My Chef's Hat - Kung Pao Chicken

Asian food is one of my favorite cuisines. I love the flavors, the variety, and the vibrant colors. But a lot of the dishes you get at restaurants are really high in calories, and tend to have a lot of sodium. And they usually give you so much food. So I've started trying to make more Asian recipes at home. Most of the time they're pretty easy to make, and you can even make your own sauces.

 About 2 months ago I came across a recipe for Kung Pao chicken. You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? The picture that popped up on my Facebook feed made me instantly stop and look it up. My dad was visiting at the time, and originally my plan was to make it with tofu since my dad is a vegetarian.  I never got around to making it though. A couple weeks ago I was searching for new recipes to make for the week and came across the Kung Pao chicken.  I wasn't letting it get past me again. 

 Here is the official recipe photo


And here is my version

Wow, this was one of the best dishes I've made. So much flavor. Marinating the chicken before hand helps deepen the flavor as well. The recipe calls for sesame oil and hoisin sauce. I didn't have any hoisin sauce and didn't realize it until I was already cutting up the chicken. I'm still not sold on sesame oil. It is really strong, and a little goes a VERY long way. The first time I used it I did what the recipe called for... and almost threw it out because that's all I could taste. So now I put about 1/4 of what the recipe says. And still sometimes it's too much.

 I will definitely be making it again. Most likely this week. I bought hoisin sauce the other day, so I'm ready for it.

 Recipe Courtesy of Penney Lane
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