Easy Kung Pao Chicken

Is anyone as obsessed as I am with finding meals which only involve cooking ONE thing to get your veggies, protein and carbs?! It’s just so satisfying to not have to make multiple dishes for a healthy dinner. This is one we discovered recently and we’ve already made it like 4 times! One of the key lessons learned is that it is NOT worth it to make your own kung pao sauce. It just won’t turn out as good as you want it, no matter how many recipes you try, and you’ll be stuck will a million random ingredients that you might never use again.

Our secret? Ask the guy at the local Asian market (we love Indochine on Hollister in Goleta) for a good kung pao sauce, and check out the ingredients to make sure there’s nothing too surprising in there. The one we got is called Kung Pao Stir-Fry Sauce and the brand is Lee Kum Kee Hong Kong. The main ingredients are water, sugar, salt, sesame oil, chili pepper, distilled vinegar, and spices. Okay, once you’ve found a good sauce to use, let’s get to it!

Ingredients

• ~1 lb of chicken breast, diced into small bite sized cubes
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1.5 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• .5 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 zucchini
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 10 dried red chili peppers
• 1/4 cup dry roasted whole peanuts
• 1/3 cup kung pao sauce
• 2 scallions, finely sliced

How to

• Mix together the soy sauce, red wine vinegar, cornstarch and brown sugar. Use this to marinate the chicken for at least an hour before cooking.
• Chop the veggies into small bite sized cubes, about the same size as the chicken.
• Heat oil in a large pan over high heat, then add chicken (without excess marinade) and saute until it’s nicely browned.
• Add veggies, chili peppers and roasted peanuts to the hot pan and saute for 2-3 minutes.
• Lower the heat to medium and add the chicken back into the pan. Add kung pao sauce and cook for another couple minutes until the sauce is fully incorporated in the chicken and veggies, and it’s all nice and hot.
• Serve over jasmine rice and top with scallions.