Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁 — cooked in silence #Shorts

Kung Pao Chicken — 宫保鸡丁 — cooked in silence. No talking. No music. Just the wok. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ FULL RECIPE — Gong Bao Ji Ding · 宫保鸡丁 · Sichuan ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ INGREDIENTS - 300 g boneless chicken thigh, cut into 1.5 cm cubes - 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine - 1 tsp light soy sauce - 1 tsp cornstarch - 10-12 dried red chillies, halved and deseeded - 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns - 3 garlic cloves, sliced - 1 piece ginger, sliced - 4 spring onions, white parts only, in thick rounds - 1/3 cup roasted unsalted peanuts - 2 tbsp neutral oil SAUCE - 1 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar - 1 tbsp light soy sauce - 1 tsp dark soy sauce - 2 tsp sugar - 1 tsp cornstarch - 2 tbsp water METHOD 1. Marinate the chicken with Shaoxing wine, light soy and cornstarch for 15 minutes. 2. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl until the cornstarch dissolves. Set aside. 3. Heat the wok over high heat until smoking. Add the oil, then the dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns - 15 seconds, just until fragrant. Do not let them burn. 4. Add the chicken in a single layer. Let it sear undisturbed for 1 minute, then stir-fry until golden. 5. Add garlic, ginger and the white parts of the spring onion. 30 seconds. 6. Stir the sauce again and pour it in. Toss until it thickens and coats the chicken. 7. Off the heat, fold in the peanuts. They go in last so they stay crunchy. ⚠️ Bell peppers are not part of the Chinese recipe - that is the Western adaptation. The authentic version is dried chilli, Sichuan peppercorn and peanuts. ABOUT THE DISH Named after Ding Baozhen, governor of Sichuan in the late Qing dynasty. Gongbao was his official title. The dish was labelled politically incorrect during the Cultural Revolution and later reinstated. Lizhi wei (荔枝味), 'lychee flavour' - the sweet-sour balance that defines the dish. There is no lychee in it; it is the name of the flavour profile in Sichuan cooking.