Summary

Ingredients

• 2 cup peanut oil or other neutral oil
• 0.5 ½ cup peanuts (raw)
• 350 g chicken, skinless from the le
• 2 teaspoon soy sauce, light
• 2 teaspoons rice wine (Shaoxing) or dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• 1 pinch (s) salt
• 1 pinch (s) white pepper
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon Szechuan pepper
• 1 handful chilli pepper (s), dried
• 0.5 ½ bulb garlic, Chinese (or 3 cloves normal)
• 3 cm ginger root (peeled)
• 1 bunch spring onion (s)
• 1 tablespoon rice wine (Shaoxing) or dry sherry
• 6 tablespoon chicken broth (low-salt, better completely without salt)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce, dark
• 2 teaspoons vinegar, dark Chinese (Chinkiang)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon chili sauce, hot Chinese (alternatively: Siracha from Thailand)
• 1 ½ tablespoon corn starch

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Instructions

1. Dice the meat (1 cm edge length) and mix with the light soy sauce, rice wine, salt, pepper and starch and let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Peel the ginger and garlic and cut into thin slices. Cut the spring onions diagonally into pieces, separate the white and green parts.
3. Mix the chicken broth, dark soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chilli sauce and starch together. This will be the sauce.
4. If necessary, remove the red skin from the peanut kernels. Let the wok get scorching hot and pour in the oil. Hold a bamboo chopstick in and, when bubbles appear, add the peanuts and fry them briefly until golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
5. Drain the oil except for two tablespoons. When it smokes, add the meat and stir it well. Depending on the heat of the wok, add 1 tablespoon rice wine after a minute (the meat should be almost done) and stir again briefly. Place the meat from the wok in a colander to drain.
6. Briefly wipe the wok with kitchen paper, reheat. When it is hot again, add 1-2 tablespoons of oil. Add Szechuan pepper berries and chili peppers (the more the better) and keep stirring until the chilies brown slightly. Add the garlic and ginger and keep stirring. After a minute add the white spring onion pieces and the meat. Pour in the sauce (stir again beforehand). When it thickens, stir in the peanuts.
7. Place on a platter and garnish with green spring onion pieces. Finally, pour some ground (or, better, ground) Szechuan pepper over it.
8. Of course, you can also use chicken breast instead of leg of chicken. In China, however, the taste and texture of leg meat are largely preferred.
9. The amount of chillies seems BRUTAL at first glance. You have to know that the chillies (as well as the Szechuan pepper) are primarily used to flavor the frying oil and to transfer the heat to the meat through friction when stirring the pan. With this cooking technique, which is often used in Szechuan, the chillies are NOT eaten. You eat around with the chopsticks. The Chinese call the combination of sharpness and the tingling, slightly numbing effect of the Szechuan pepper ma la.
10. The combination of chillies, vinegar, sugar and salty soy sauce is also common in the Szechuan region. People like to combine all taste nuances in one dish - and all sources of spiciness. Here: normal pepper, Szechuan pepper, chillies. Chili sauce - this variety of spicy ingredients in one dish is only available in Szechuan.
11. Authentic Kung Pao is spicy, no question about it. But not overly spicy either. If you can handle a Thai curry or like Indian food, you won`t have any problems here.