Monday, March 8, 2010

kung pao chicken



before i came over to australia on march 1, i tried my hand at cooking kung pao chicken twice at home in singapore. i first enjoyed kungpao chicken at this food stall in an industrial canteen at quality road, somewhere in jurong. it is called seng's kitchen and it is the only stall (in that canteen) that stays open in the night because its regular customers come from all over singapore.

i found out that this dish is quite easy to prepare. the ingredients, other than the chicken, include dried chilli, ginger, garlic, black sauce, light sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and corn starch. one other essential ingredient, which i do not add to it, is vinegar. i was told that it is the vinegar that gives it its subtle taste. i do not like vinegar and cashew nuts, which some people also add to the dish.

for the chicken, i use breast meat or the boneless part of the chicken. you can cut it into cubes but i prefer to cut it into strips. i use pepper, sesame oil and hua tiao wine to marinate the chicken.

the dried chilli has to be de-seeded and cut into about 3cm long. the ginger - which cost $26 a kilo in melbourne - is cut into strips. the garlic is chopped until it is quite fine.

for the sauce, i use one spoonful of black sauce, one spoonful of light sauce and one spoonful of oyster sauce. i also add two spoonfuls of water before adding the corn starch. you have to stir the mixture till the corn starch dissolves in the sauce.

first, fry the chicken pieces until they are almost cooked. remove from pan. fried the garlic, ginger and dried chilli until fragrant. then throw in the chicken. finally, pour in the sauce.

you can substitute the chicken with other meat. i have also tried cooking kung pao pork.

11 comments:

Uncle Phil said...

Wow!that's yummy! I can smell it from Sydney. Ginger is $25 a kilo here too.
I have just started to plant them in my backyard but it takes about 2 years before it is ready for harvest.

doris said...

do you know the recipe for su tong po rou? would like to try that one.

Pilot JO said...

Seng's Kitchen @ Quality Rd.
Its still there! Serving up their famous Assam Curry Fish Head :) thanks for the receipe! I will try it out soon!

yg said...

phil, it can grow in australia? in s'pore, you can find some types of ginger growing in the wild.

yg said...

doris, what is so tong por ru?

yg said...

hi pilot jo, now he (seng's kitchen) has an assistant chef. the problem eating there at night is no hot drinks.

pck said...

The dish looks yummy! BTW, what is the meaning of kung pao?

yg said...

kung pao chicken is a szechuan dish. according to 'wikipedia', the name came from 'gong pao' meaning 'palatial guradian'.

Icemoon said...

yg, doris means Dongpo's pork, a famous Hangzhou dish.

Uncle Phil said...

Hi yg,
Ginger, as you know is a tropical plant, thereby you may need to grow them a greenhouse in Melbourne. Ginger is not frost hardy so in Melbourne you have to bring the plants indoors for the winter if you do not have a greenhouse in the garden.

yg said...

phil,
thanks for the tip on how to grow ginger in melbourne.