Asian Delight: Kung Pao Chicken Recipe

The first time when I had first tasted Kung Pao Chicken dish was at a Chinese restaurant that serves local Chinese dishes and popular stir fries noodles; Chow Mien.

At first glance, I thought Kung Pao Chicken was an extremely spicy dish due to enormous usage of dried red chillies which gave me goosebumps.

However, I was surprised that it wasn't that spicy, just mild spicy with a mixture of black sauce thick gravy which gave the chicken an aromatic flavor.

Hence, I started to search through several websites for this particular chicken dish but there are many versions, from Chinese to Asians and Westerns.

Alas, I realized that the secret to each country's Kung Pao Chicken depends mainly on the sauce, Kung Pao sauce.

Kung Pao Chicken is a mild spicy stir fry chicken dish, a mixture of chicken meats, toasted cashew nuts or peanuts but I had used a block of firm tofu for more protein.

Most restaurants serve Kung Pao Chicken without vegetables but with toasted cashew nuts and generous douse of dried red chillies with seeds! That was extremely spicy for kids and even some adults.

The original recipe of this chicken dish calls for a unique ingredient; Szechuan peppercorns which give lemon cum pepper tangy flavor but you could hardly find this anywhere in Asia. Hence, most people exclude this peppercorn and replace it with more dried red chillies instead.

If you are looking for a mild spicy chicken recipe for dinner, you should try our Asian famous Chinese Kung Pao Chicken that is commonly consumed in Western and Asian countries, all over the world.

Some people called it :

• Gong Bao Chicken
• Kung Po Chicken
• Kung Bao Chicken
• Spicy Black Sauce Chicken

Whatever it is being named, this is the BEST chicken dish that I had ever tasted!

Generally, this chicken dish called Kung Pao Chicken is a stir fry chicken recipe mixed with toasted peanuts, chopped vegetables ( green peppers ) and red chilli peppers with spicy sauce.

The original dish was created in Sichuan Province of China which included Sichuan peppercorns but nowadays, we don't use this ingredient anymore.

According to the China history, Kung Pao Chicken was named after a late Qing Dynasty official' "Ding Baozhen" who was also a governor of Sichuan Province.

At that time, he was given the status as "Gongbao" which means the Palace Guardian who guards and protects the palace from harm.

That is how Kung Pao Chicken was created. Mr Ding must had loved this dish so much that the chef had named it after him.

Generally, Kung Bao Chicken is a traditional dish found in Sichuan Province in China. This chicken recipes is a stir fried version, a mild spicy sauces with combination of diced chicken, roasted peanuts, chopped vegetables, red chilli peppers and black vinegar.

There are many types of Kung Bao Chicken all over the world.

Here are the examples of the ingredients used for different countries:

Western countries: diced marinated chicken stir-fried with orange or orange juice, ginger, garlic, chicken broth, sugar, cooking oil, corn starch, and salt and pepper to taste.

Thailand: Diced chicken with fish sauce and sweet soy sauce.

Malaysia: Diced or slices of chicken with roasted cashews nuts or tofu cubes, mixed with dark sauce, Chinese wine and black vinegar.

China: Diced chicken with roasted peanuts, vegetables and Sichuan pepper corns, combine with Shaoxing wine, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce and sugar.

In this recipe, I prefer to use my homemade Kung Pao sauce which are mainly the combination of these sauces:

This is excellent tasting mild but not wimpy vinegar. I have tried it with soba noodles dressed with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil,
and a few drops of Sriracha Chili Sauce. Adding the black vinegar really rounded out the flavor and I'll be making this my new standard.
I made a wonderful salad dressing usiThis is excellent tasting mild but not wimpy vinegar. I have tried it with soba noodles dressed with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil,
and a few drops of Sriracha Chili Sauce. Adding the black vinegar really rounded out the flavor and I'll be making this my new standard.
I made a wonderful salad dressing using this as a base with olive oil , herbs, and garlic. The black vinegar seemed to give a less overpowering sharp vinegary flavor to the dressing and let the garlic and herb taste come through.
I can't wait to try this in a marinade!
You should have this vinegar in your kitchen! You will find many uses for it.ng this as a base with olive oil , herbs, and garlic. The black vinegar seemed to give a less overpowering sharp vinegary flavor to the dressing and let the garlic and herb taste come through.
I can't wait to try this in a marinade!
You should have this vinegar in your kitchen! You will find many uses for it.

You can buy dried red chillies in supermaket or grocery store. A large packet of this red peppers could last a few months or maybe a year if you store them in dry place or in the fridge.

I love the spicy smell and flavor, great for blending with "sambal"-spicy paste and I used them often for chicken dish such as Kung Bao Chicken.

In addition, it is easy to remove the dry seeds, lightly scrape off them after making a slit. It doesn't burn my fingers either.

• 1 tbsp corn starch ( corn flour )
• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Chinese wine ( cooking wine )

Mix together:

• 1.5 tbs light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp black vinegar
• 1 tsp corn starch ( corn flour )
• 1/2 small bowl water

You can substitute tofu cubes with any of these ingredients:

• cashew nuts
• green pepper bells
• scallions
• roasted peanuts
• spring onions

• Chop up the garlic and onions into small pieces.
• You can use a Slap Chop for quicker process.
• Cut the ginger into 5 slices.
• You need not peel off the skin.

• Pat dry firm white tofu and cut into cubes.
• Coat each cube with corn starch.
• Heat up wok with sufficient hot oil and deep fry the tofu cubes until crisp.
• Remove from wok.
• Use kitchen paper towel to absorb excess oil.
• Set aside.

• If you have a deep fryer, it will be quicker to deep fry tofu cubes.
• I don't own one, so a wok will do.
• Remember to pour more oil into the wok and leave it to warm up.
• Make sure each tofu cubes are well coated with corn flour.
• Put in one tofu cube at a time.
• Do not toss in everything as the tofu will smash up.
• Separate the tofu cubes so that it doesn't stick to each other.

• Pour in 1 tbs of oil into the wok.
• Toss in the chopped garlic, onions and ginger into the wok.
• Sauté until aromatic.

• Add in the marinated chicken and stir fry for a few minutes.
• Ensure that the chicken parts are well combined with the garlic, onions and ginger.

• When the chicken is semi-cooked, add in the dried chillies and Kung Pao Sauce mixture into the dish.
• Add in 1/2 small bowl of water to allow the sauce to absorb into the chicken parts.
• Allow the Kung Bao Chicken to simmer for 15 minutes under medium fire.
• Add in pre-fried tofu cubes and stir well.
• Simmer until the gravy thickens and reduced.