Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram I’m not usually anxious. I went straight into panic mode because my parents are on vacation overseas right now, and I always worry that something will happen to them. (It’s so weird reaching the level of adulthood where I’m freaked out about my parents’ safety, not the other way around.) It was a very secure stall, with only a couple inches of clearance on the bottom, and it was way too tall to climb over. Someone from the hotel brought a screwdriver and she got herself out in a jiffy. Truthfully, I’m kind of bummed she wasn’t forced to crawl out underneath. The only thing funnier than imagining my mom stuck in a locked bathroom stall in Kyrgyzstan would be a picture of her crawling out of a locked bathroom stall in Kyrgyzstan. (Dad, please be on call to make this photo happen if there are any more tricky locks.) This recipe has stood the test of time. It’s a classic stir fry. I love it because it’s low-carb, but still super flavorful, and you can get it on the table in less than 45 minutes start to finish. Most of the work is prep time: getting the chicken in a quick marinade, cutting veggies, whisking up an easy sauce. Your stove will only be on for a few minutes, so it’s a great meal for hot summer nights, or fall nights when you have that 60 minute window in between soccer practice pick ups! Of course my version is Americanized (and also Karen-ized, because it me). I’m subbing out the chili peppers for an amazing little jar of goodness called chili crisp, because I’m way too much of a wuss to be downing real deal spicy Chinese red hot chili peppers (and the subsequent 10 glasses of water) on a Thursday night. Instead, we’re going the chili crisp route. Fly by Jing is one of the best condiments I’ve ever had. Jing’s recipe includes the magical Sichuan pepper, and dried black beans. The flavor and texture is just so different! I love it. Chili crisp is SO popular right now, that I promise you can find some at any store with a decent Asian selection. Any brand of chili crisp will do for this recipe! But try out the Fly by Jing someday. It’s so good. Seriously, it’s only 3 ingredients: soy sauce, cornstarch, and Sherry wine. If you want to be a little more authentic, use Shaoxing Wine, a traditional Chinese wine. I couldn’t find it in any grocery store I went to, so I opted to use Sherry wine, a great substitute. You could certainly get it at an international market, or online! Let the chicken sit in the marinade for a hot minute while you prep all the veggies. Here’s how I like to chop my bell peppers. We aren’t dicing these peppers, instead cut them into big squares. It’s the Kung Pao way! Did you know that green bell peppers are just red bell peppers that were picked earlier? I had no idea! No wonder they are so much cheaper. They don’t need nearly as much time on the vine as the colorful varieties do. They can be picked whenever they are big enough. Of course they are not as sweet. I like to use a variety of colors for this dish, just because it’s so pretty. Any colors will do. Move on to your zucchini: I like to cut the zucchini into fairly large pieces like this. Zucchini cooks the fastest (and peppers take a bit longer) so if the zucchini is chopped bigger, it takes longer to cook. Small pieces will just overcook and disintegrate. I just did a whole post recently on How to Cut an Onion, and realized I’ve been doing it “wrong” my entire life. 🤣 Figures. However you want to cut it, you only need about 1/2 cup of onion, so toss the rest in a ziplock and store them in the freezer for a future meal (tomorrow’s you will be singing your praises!) Set the veggies aside for a hot minute. We’re going to cook up that marinating chicken! Sear the chicken with plenty of space in between each piece. You want this pan hot, hot, hot! Use a large skillet or wok if you don’t have a cast iron skillet. Flip each piece of chicken individually to cook the other side. Remove the chicken to a plate. Now back to the veggies: dump them all in the chicken pan, with a little more oil. After a couple minutes, add in the ginger and garlic. Dump the cooked chicken back in the pan. Then add the sauce and stir it up for just a minute! Don’t forget to add in the peanuts at the end, they add the perfect crunch, I love it. Serve this goodness up with some hot steamy rice! You could do regular white rice, Brown rice, Cauliflower Rice (mine and Eric’s weeknight go-to), or Basmati rice (not traditional, but the first time we tried this, Eric made Basmati on accident. (Literally just grabbed the wrong bag and didn’t realize.) And then he kind of burnt the bottom. Not like burned burned, just some golden crisp on the bottom of the pot. It was actually SOOO good, little bits of crispy golden aromatic rice with this killer orange chili sauce….YUM.
Add roasted cashews instead of peanuts Switch out the dry sherry for Shaoxing wine (great flavor if you can find it!) Use rice vinegar (or even Chinese black vinegar) instead of balsamic vinegar. Normally I reach for rice vinegar when cooking Asian food, but balsamic mimics the flavor of Chinese black vinegar the best. Add (or swap out) veggies, like broccoli or water chestnuts. These would add a nice crunch! If you want more heat, add 5-10 small dried red chilies (like Tien Tsin chilies or chiles de arbol) to the hot oil right before cooking the chicken. Fry them for about 30 seconds to release the oil, then remove them while you sear the chicken. Add back into the pan before serving. Then get ready to CHUG MILK. 🤣 I told you, I’m kind of a baby. Omit the orange juice and zest if you’re not into that. I LOVE the hint of orange in this chicken, it really amps up the flavor in my opinion, but it is not a traditional ingredient. You will be totally fine leaving it out.
A simple green salad or lightly sautéed Asian greens, like baby bok choy would be good. Marinated Asian Cucumber Salad » this is so fresh for summer! How to Cook Rice » this is the easiest step by step recipe for rice! Coconut Jasmine Rice with Cilantro » I love the flavor in this rice! You may never go back to regular. How to cook Brown Rice in Instant Pot » the instant pot does all the hard work so you can enjoy deliciously healthy brown rice How to make Riced Cauliflower » we eat this all the time around here, even my kids love it! Asian Cauliflower Rice » like the recipe above, but with seasonings that make it a perfect pairing for Asian flavors! How to Make Zucchini Noodles Without a Spiralizer » This would be so delicious (and healthy) over some veggies noodles if you’re not digging rice, real or cauliflowered Copycat P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps » have you had these?? I can eat so many of them Crab Rangoon from Rasa Malaysia
Can you freeze kung pao chicken?
You can definitely freeze leftover kung pao chicken, but lower your crispness expectations. The peppers, onions, and zucchini will all be quite soft when you defrost them. If you don’t mind, freeze away, in an airtight container or a ziplock (and label it, so you’re not left wondering what the heck it is). I recommend defrosting overnight in the fridge and then re-warming the amount you want to eat/serve in the microwave, stirring after every 30 seconds.
“What happens when you combine sexy Latin hip-shaking with aerobics and an awkward, rhythm-less Karen? Love. Love is what happens. My friend Lauren invited me to go to a free Zumba class she is taking. I’ve heard people bear their testimonies about Zumba before, but had never seen it. I now join their throngs. It. Was. Awesome. It’s kind of like learning a line dance but instead of doing the electric slide and a lasso at every turn, you’re shaking your booty for all you’ve got. But it’s more about the exercise than the dance, so instead of doing the same step over and over til you’ve got it, you just move right on to the next step. The best part? The amazing Latin-techno music blaring as loud as the speakers will go. It was especially awesome because these sexy Latin songs inevitably feature Latin men hissing and whistling suggestively, and listening to that while trying to imitate sexy Latin dance moves and failing miserably is hilarious. Needless to say I was the worst in the class. I have absolutely no grace, rhythm, and even lack the memory for dance steps. In spite of this history, I still loved Zumba. If we were to watch a video of me Zumba-ing (pray that you never do) I’m sure it would bear no resemblance to what the instructor was doing. Probably because I broke down laughing after about every 3rd step. I think I burned more calories laughing at my attempt to do sexy shimmy-shaking than I did actually shimmying. The worst steps are the ones that involve clapping. For normal moves it’s easy to pretend no one notices that I’m horribly off beat, but it kind of gives me away when all my claps are a half beat or more behind everyone else’s. My brain also feels that it’s necessary to get in as many claps as I heard, even if I am late. So if there are 3 successive claps and I just missed all of them, in my frenzy to catch up I will still clap 3 times rapid fire, while everyone else in the room has moved on to the completely silent spin-step. Then I break down in laughter and miss the next 3 moves. This [Kung Pao Chicken] is one of my favorite recipes. Super quick and delicious. I never use snow peas because they are expensive, but I’m sure it would be really good that way. I don’t know if it tastes authentic because I’ve never ordered it in a restaurant, so no haters if it’s not. If you are disappointed, just do some shimmy-shakes until you feel better.
