Hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to classic Americanized Chinese cuisine with a look at the Kung Pao Chicken from PF Chang's. For those new to the channel, in this series, we have been deconstructing classic dishes from Americanized Chinese cuisine (including now, a whooole bunch of stuff from PF Chang's), then seeing what they might look like when reconstructed through the lens of more traditional wok cooking. Kung Pao chicken of course is not an unfamiliar sight on this channel, some may recall that we took our best shot at the Panda Express kung pao chicken last year, as well as our own version done on a 200,000 BTU wok burner a few months back, too. Its concept is not a particularly complicated one, kung pao chicken is essentially a stir fry featuring a wok seared piece of chicken and crispy flash fried vegetable.
As with most stir fries, the vegetable element can be toyed with a bit to accommodate whatever happens to be in season, but by definition kung pao chicken MUST contain one element, which of course is a wok fried peanut. And make no mistake, it is not kung pao chicken without peanuts, so we'll absolutely be touching on exactly how to dry toast a raw peanut for a stir fry. What is particularly unique about the PF Chang's kung pao chicken however, is that in lieu of the seared and flash cooked chicken thigh that we more commonly would use in most versions of this dish, today we'll instead be breading our chicken in potato starch, then deepfrying it to crispy, craggily bite sized pieces. So! This essentially means that we'll be using my favorite double breading technique with our chicken to create what is essentially a japanese chicken karaage...kung pao chicken, which is, very interesting. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) fine minced ginger
3 green onions
2 medium chicken thighs
1/2 medium white onion
4 stalks celery
1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup dried Tian Jin peppers
1/4 cup + 1/2 cup potato starch
64oz fryer oil
peanut oil
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1/2 tsp white pepper
INGREDIENTS (glaze)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp doubanjiang
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp honey
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside
SEPARATE the whites and greens of the green onions, then slice thinly, set aside
DICE the chicken thighs, then combine with all marinade ingredients and let marinate for 30 minutes
COMBINE chicken with 1/4 cup potato starch, then coat each piece individually with the remaining potato starch
COMBINE all glaze ingredients, set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT the fryer oil to 350F, then add the chicken 15-20 pieces at a time and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown
REMOVE the fryer oil, then reduce the heat to low and add the peanuts and Tian Jin peppers
TOSS for 5 minutes until the peppers are fragrant and the peanuts are crispy, then remove and set aside
REHEAT the wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the garlic, ginger, and whites of green onions and saute for 15 seconds until fragrant
ADD the celery and onion, then toss for 2-3 minutes and remove
REDUCE the heat to medium low, then add the glaze mixture plus 1/4 cup water and let reduce for 3-5 minutes until syrupy in consistency
ADD the chicken, veggies, and peanuts back to the wok, then toss to combine
SERVE over rice and finish with the greens of the green onions