Kung Pao Chicken

Who likes Kung Pao Chicken? This Kung Pao Chicken turned out great! I don’t care for a lot of spice, so instead of using the traditional chili pepper ingredient, I used a red pepper. Thankfully I have a wok. Sadly I don’t use it often enough, because I love my other appliances. And it is hidden in a cabinet so I tend to forget about it. I'm glad I remembered it tonight because it puts a great sear on chicken. I served with with rice and roasted broccoli. There was plenty of juice to season the rice nicely. The few dashes of sesame oil in the end, really enhanced the flavor. This is a recipe that I will be making again. So let me tell you how this came together.

By:Kristi

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: 4-6

Cuisine: Asian

Ingredients
The chicken and marinade:
* 2 pounds of chicken tenderloins and thighs, cut into 1 inch cubes
* 1 cup coconut aminos
* the juice of 1 lime
* 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar 

* 3 dashes of fish sauce 

Combine all of the above ingredients in a container and marinate for at least 4 hours or more. 

* 1/2 a red pepper chopped
* 2 stalks celery chopped
* 3 whole scallions chopped
* 6 cloves garlic minced
* 1/3 cup roasted peanuts
* two dashes of sesame oil to finish

Instructions:

1. Heat a wok to medium high heat with 2-4 tablespoons of cooking fat.
2. Add veggies (celery, pepper and scallions) and sauté for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the veggies to a bowl.
4. Add chicken to the pan in batches shaking off excess marinade AND reserving it! Get a good sear on the chicken and remove from pan when almost done. Add to the bowl with the veggies.
5. Once all of the chicken is cooked, add the marinade to the pan and bring to a boil with the fresh garlic. Let boil for 5 minutes.
6. Turn heat down and add the chicken and veggies back into the wok and stir to coat.
7. Add in the peanuts and dashes of sesame oil and stir once more.
8. Turn off heat and let sit in wok for 5 minutes before serving.
9. Serve with white rice or roasted broccoli. Or both! Garnish with fresh scallions.
10. Enjoy!.
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