Gong Bao Chicken

Source: Fuchsia Dunlop

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless chicken breasts, with or without skin (300–350g in total)
• 3 garlic cloves
• An equivalent amount of ginger
• 5 spring onions, white parts only
• A handful of dried chilies (about 10)
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp whole Sichuan pepper
• 75g roasted peanuts

For the marinade

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
• 11/2 tsp potato flour

For the sauce

• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 3/4 tsp potato flour
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp chicken stock or water

Method:

Cut the chicken as evenly as possible into 1.5cm strips, then cut these into small cubes. Place in a small bowl. Add the marinade ingredients together with 1 tbsp water, mix well and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

Peel and thinly slice the garlic and ginger and chop the spring onions into chunks as long as their diameter (to match the chicken cubes). Snip the chillies in half or into sections. Discard their seeds as far as possible. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

Heat a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add the oil with the chillies and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry briefly until the chillies are darkening but not burnt (remove the wok from the heat if necessary to prevent overheating). Quickly add the chicken and stir-fry over a high flame, stirring constantly. As soon as the chicken cubes have separated, add the ginger, garlic and spring onions and continue to stir-fry until they are fragrant and the meat just cooked through (test one of the larger pieces to make sure).

Give the sauce a stir and add it to the wok, continuing to stir and toss. As soon as the sauce has become thick and shiny, add the peanuts, stir them in and serve.