Chinese Saturday!

Gong Bao Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1kg boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into small cubes
• 2 red bell peppers, cubed
• 1 large red onion, cubed
• 3 scallion greens, chopped
• 1/3 cup oil for frying
• 1/5 cup Sichuan peppercorns, toasted in skillet for 30 seconds
• 6 dried red chillies, seeded
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup unsalted peanuts
  
  Marinade:
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
• 2 tablespoons potato flour
  
  Sauce:
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
• 2 tablespoons black Chinese vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon Sichuan fermented chilli-bean paste
• 1 tablespoon potato flour
  

Preparation:

•  Marinate the chicken for about an hour.
  
•  Grind half of the sichuan peppercorns and mix with scallion greens. Prepare all other ingredients. Mix sauce in a small bowl.
•  Heat your wok on high flame and add oil. When it's hot add your chillies and whole peppercorns. Be careful not to burn them - fry them about 15 seconds only, so oil gets fragrant. Immediately pour the oil from your wok into prepared bowl, using fine-mesh strainer. Discard peppercorns, but leave chillies for later use.
•  Heat your wok again and pour 1/4th of your oil, when it's ready. Put half of your chicken and let it rest for a minute. Then keep on frying one more minute, tossing constantly. It should be just barely cooked through. Remove and put it into bowl. Repeat with rest of the chicken (if you are increasing the amount of ingredients in the recipe, do it in batches, do not overcrowd your wok).
•  Heat another 1/4th of your oil and now throw in bell peppers. Let them char a bit, then add red onion. Cook for a while and add remaining oil, chicken, peppers and peanuts.
• Push your ingredients to the side, to make a well in the middle. Throw in garlic and ginger there. Let it fry for a while and then mix with other ingredients. Cook until meat is done and dish is aromatic.
• Add sauce and mix until everything is coated. Then add scallion greens, toss a few times and transfer to a serving dish :)
  
  Result: