Kung POW !! Chicken
Source of Recipe
La Belle Cuisine
Recipe Introduction
Serving Ideas: Personally, I would start this with a Won-ton or Egg Drop
Soup, have Pot Stickers and appropriate condiment on the side, and finish
with a lime sherbet.
And plenty of Tsing Tao beer for all. Of course.
List of Ingredients
1/3 cup peanut oil
16 chili peppers
8 ounces peanuts (Planter's Cocktail Peanuts are great)
2 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, boned, skinned, diced
4 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons grated ginger
1 tablespoon Mongolian Fire Oil (or equivalent)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sherry (real stuff, not "cooking" sherry)
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 cup water
1 cluster broccoli, small florets
1/4 pound snow peas, trimmed, sliced diagonally
1/3 pound mushrooms , sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 can bamboo shoots
4 green onions, diced
1 1/2 cups white rice
Recipe
Okay, folks, this is one where preparation makes all the difference. And even a little rehearsal. This is a showy dish, not only in the presentation, but also in the preparation. Makes great company fare, or something to impress the hell out of the in-laws. Think it through, check the weather, and go for it.
Indispensable for this sort of thing (and, I find, for cooking in general) is a set of bowls used only for prep work. A nice tray to stack them all on is nice. And, if you do not already have one, this is a good excuse to go out and buy a catfish fryer / turkey fryer or whatever else they may call it in your part of the country. This is a heavy duty, high heat, propane burner (something around 160,000 Btu) on a kind of tripod stand. Usually comes with an 8-10 quart pot, with strainer, which is good also for boiling up pasta or crawfish or whatever, or a 26 quart pot to deep-fry a turkey. Note that this apparatus is also critical to Steak au Poivre or Blackened Pork Chops with Rock Shrimp (or anything else blackened, for that matter). You might also want to think about a wok thingy (I will be damned if I know what you call the thing) with a VERY long handle. And a good oven mitt.
A big wok (I like cast iron, for a half-dozen good reasons) is nice, but not absolutely essential. You could do the same thing in any large and heavy
fry pan.
But, I digress. Open a cold Tsing Tao (or any reasonable Chinese beer) and get started with your prep work. Skin and bone your chicken and cut into cubes. Grate or slice your ginger and press your garlic. Cut your vegetables up nicely. Slice up the mushrooms. Dice up your green onion. Lay out everything in bowls, all ready to add as required. This is key to almost anything cooked in a wok -- and critical to your performance and the adoration of your audience.
So, we begin:
In large bowl, combine garlic, ginger, 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup sherry. Cut chicken to bite size pieces, add to mixture. Add Mongolian Fire Oil, or equivalent, liberally.
In small bowl, combine 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup sherry, 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 cup water. Set aside.
Prepare vegetables. Cut everything into pretty, bite-size pieces. Broccoli and snow peas take longest to cook, so probably in the same bowl. Mushrooms and bamboo shoots are really just heated up, so can go together.
Stack all your prep bowls on a nice tray and adjourn to the back forty. Bring another cold beer (just for appearances, of course, although you can drink it if you wish).
Fire up the wok. Outside, of course. Be sure to use plenty of gas. You want the assembled to know that you are getting ready for some SERIOUS culinary adventuring. Let me throw in another note here; this really is why you want to do this out of doors. Unless you have an industrial strength ventilation system, just one of those peppers a little too brown and you might as well evacuate the house. I bag you not here, this is instant gas chamber, just like the Army and gas mask drills.
If possible, delegate someone to watch the rice. This is pretty damned simple, so you need not find the brightest Crayon in the box. Boil up about a quart of water. Add a dash of salt. Add the rice (I like Uncle Ben's Converted -- NOT "instant"). Stir with a fork until it comes to a boil again. Turn down the heat, cover, and gently simmer for 18 minutes. Pour off excess water. Keep warm. Meanwhile, the REAL chef is out back, doing chef-like things - see below:
Heat oil to shimmering in wok. Add chili peppers; cook until brown (not black). This is probably less than a minute, so pay attention. Remove peppers and discard. Add peanuts; cook until starting to brown. Remove and set aside.
Add chicken to wok in batches. Cook until done (3-4 minutes), stirring constantly. Remove and set aside. Note that, somewhere in here, if you have your fire sufficiently cranked up, you are going to get the flames filling the bowl of the wok. This is cool. This is theatric. This could get you laid.
Turn down the fire a tad or two. Add vegetables to wok. Cook until slightly soft. You might have to add a little oil, and perhaps a bit more sherry as well. Again, adjust cooking time as appropriate.
Return the chicken and add cornstarch mixture. Cook until mixture thickens.
Stir in peanuts and green onion. Serve immediately.
Enjoy.
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