Citrus Kung Pao Chicken

Oh happy day. It's stir-fry night!

I am quite the Asian fare enthusiast. I don't think I would ever turn down some chicken stir fry. Nope. I wouldn't. :) Over the last few years I have become a regular at Pei Wei. It is a restaurant with several locations here in Utah. My aunt and I have made it something of a favorite haunt. If you ask my 5 1/2 year old what her favorite restaurant is she will tell you all about Pei Wei in a heartbeat, followed by Bonsai at a close second. She is becoming quite the restaurateur. 

I usually order the Mandarin Kung Pao Chicken. It has caught my taste buds and just won't let them go! My husband often jokes that I should go work for Pei Wei just so that I can learn all the secrets of Asian cooking. He he. (That will never happen...) I have made it something of a mission to re-create a dish that would satisfy my Kung Pao craving. After many attempts and several tweaks to my sauces and method I have come up with this dish: Citrus Kung Pao Chicken. I am quite pleased with the result. It isn't exactly the same as Pei Wei's dish, but I like it better because I made it in the comfort of my home. I didn't have to haul two enthusiastic kiddos out and wrangle them into their seats at the restaurant to behave like little angels. We just gathered around our table at home and enjoyed the food. It was simple, no-hassle and just the way I like it. 

If you are itching for some home cooked Asian goodness, give this a try! Who knows, it might become a family favorite too!

Come along with me and let's make your stir-fry dreams come true!

Start out by mixing up the marinade ingredients. Cube the boneless, skinless chicken breasts and toss them in the marinade. Coat all the chicken evenly. Cover chicken with plastic wrap and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes. The longer the better but 30 minutes will do if you are in a pinch for time. The marinade is so simple. It is made with rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and cornstarch. Easy peasy. While you're marinating the chicken, steam some rice to serve with this yummy entree. 

Now we need to mix together our sauce. After much tinkering I decided to use East-West's Sizzling Stir Fry Sauce as a base for my sauce flavor. I wanted something that would be a time saver for this dish. You can get a similar taste with a "made-from-scratch" sauce but it is more time consuming. I like stir-fry to be quick and easy, ya know?

Have I told you how much I like East-West's sauces??? Every single one I have cooked with has been fabulous. I am impressed. I beefed up this basic sauce with some hoisin sauce, balsamic reduction and a little bit of sugar. It turned out great! I am really pleased with how simple the sauce was to make, and it hit the flavor spot on!

Once you have your sauce whisked together nicely, set it aside and get your flour out on a plate to coat the chicken pieces. Season the flour lightly with salt and pepper. Toss the chicken pieces in the flour to coat it ever so slightly. Set the flour-coated chicken aside on a plate. 

Prepare veggies so that they are ready to be tossed in the stir fry, set aside. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. When oil begins to smoke add the ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes and the white part of the green onions. Saute for three minutes. Increase the heat to high and add the chicken pieces. Saute for 3-5 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink on the outside. 

Add the bell peppers, carrots, peanuts and sauce. Saute over high heat until chicken is slightly crispy on the outside (stirring constantly). Remove from heat. Toss in sugar snap peas just before serving and coat in sauce.  

Serve over rice. Garnish with the green part of the green onion. 

Voila. You are ready to feast family style. Woot woot!

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Useful tips:

* If you aren't a fan of fresh ginger flavor (like my hubby) you can replace the fresh minced ginger with 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger into the sauce. This will give a hint of ginger flavor without it being as pronounced. I personally love fresh ginger, so this was exactly to my liking. 

*If you are adding sugar snap peas to this dish wash them and set them aside until just a few minutes before you serve the dish. You basically only want to toss them in and coat them with the sauce and allow them to warm up a bit. If you cook the sugar snap peas very much they get wilty and lose their vibrant green color. I really prefer to keep the "snap" in my sugar snap peas in a dish like this. 

*If you don't have a good balsamic reduction you can substitute a high quality balsamic vinegar. It will change the flavor slightly, but will still be delicious. 

Enjoy!

xoxo

Laura