Kung Po

Some days ago Matli wanted to cook something chinese, since we had bought a pack of sichuan pepper at Siam shop. We searched our cookbooks but found nothing really - what a luck there is always the Internet! He found a recipe similar to one I had found in one of our books, just that in the book it had Sichuan in the name but no sichuan pepper in it! Well, it ended up really hot, as it seems like most things do after our last visit to Siam shop, where we also bought some fresh red thai chile peppers. Really hot ones... Anyway, it tasted genuine chinese, we think. We've never been to China but... It had some similarities with the dried pepper dish we had in Singapore, but it wasn't the same. Well, well...

Here is the chef with the recipe!

For two servings you will need:
2 boneless chicken breasts
3 garlic cloves
Fresh ginger (the same amount as the garlic)
1 small red onion
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
12 dried red chiles
1 teaspoon sichuan pepper
A handful roasted peanuts

Marinade:
0.5 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soy sauce (light)
1 teaspoon medium-dry sherry
1.5 teaspoons potato flour
1 tablespoon water

Sauce:
3 teaspoons sugar
0.75 teaspoons potato flour
2 teaspoons soy sauce (equal amounts light and dark)
3 teaspoons vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon chicken stock cube
1 tablespoon water

Preparation:
1. Mix all ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl. Cut the chicken into 0.5 inch cubes and marinate while preparing the rest.
2. Peel and slice the garlic and ginger in thin slices. Chop the onion into chunks with the same size as the chicken pieces. Break the chile peppers in half and discard some of their seeds.
3. Combine all ingredients for the sauce.
4. Heat the oil in the wok. Add the chile and sichuan peppers and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
5. Add the chicken, stirring constantly. When the chicken pieces has developed some color, throw in the ginger, garlic and onion. Continue to stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through.
6. Add The sauce to the wok. Continue stirring until the sauce has developed some thickness. Finally add the peanuts and serve with rice.

This is how I did it based on what I had at hand. (By the way Nikka, I didn't use any of the thai peppers in this dish :). The sichuan peppers gave a very special flavour. I will certainly use them again.