Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁

Serves 3-4,

• 400g                            chicken breast or boneless chicken leg, cut into small cubes
• 2 teaspoons                   Sichuan peppercorns
• 1.5 tablespoons                garlic, minced
• 1.5 tablespoons                ginger, minced
• 8~10                             dried red chili, roughly chopped
• 3                              green onions (only white part), cut into 1-inch size small sections. Or you can use leek.

 Chicken Marinade

• 2 teaspoons              corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon               salt
• 1 tablespoon                Chinese cooking wine
• 2 teaspoons                   cooking oil

 Seasoning Sauce

• 1 tablespoon             corn starch
• 1 tablespoon            white sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon              dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon               light soy sauce
• 1.5 tablespoons              Chinkiang vinegar

Method

1. Cut the chicken into one -bite size cubes. Transfer the chicken to a large bowl and marinating with 1/2 teaspoon of salt,  2 teaspoons of corn starch, 1 tablespoon of cooking wine  and 2 teaspoons of cooking oil.
2. Prepare a medium size bowl, combine all the ingredients for the Seasoning Sauce. Mix well. Set aside.
3. Add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil in the frying pan. Add Sichuan peppercorns  in the frying pan over LOW heat. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes or until fragrant. Skim and remove the cooked peppercorns if you feel them annoying when enjoying the food later. (Be sure of using low heat and be patient. Over-fried peppercorns bring a bitter taste.) Now add garlic, ginger and dried chili until fragrant. Then add HALF of the white part of the green onions in for a minute.
4. Now turn to high heat and quickly place all the chicken cubes in the frying pan and stir fry for 3-4 minute till chicken cubes become pale.
5. Stir in the seasoning sauce. Mix well with rest of the ingredients until the sauce is well coated. Add the remaining HALF of green onions white sections. This process should take about less than 2 minutes. You will need to move fast to avoid the chicken being overcooked.
6. Transfer out on a plate and serve with rice.

1. Cooking the sliced green onions in two phases allows you enjoying the deep fragrance as well as the crunchiness and sweetness of the green onions produced by different stages of the cooking.