Our latest feast

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Kung Pao Chicken (Low Fat)

I know this is a repeat post but it is a favourite dish with us, which I must say took me a while to master to an acceptable standard as I have previously mentioned. BUT I have actually revamped my original recipe to become a healthier version so I can still enjoy this while trying to lose weight.

The original or traditional way of cooking this calls for a huge 1 cup of oil to cook with, I have removed this and replace it with cooking spray. To make the sauce a little thicker I also added some hoisin sauce - which is a western addition to this dish that I have read during my research for this dish.

The changes I think made for a nicer dish especially without the layer of oil and knowing that it was healthier for us all!!


Kung Pao Chicken

Serves: 4
Points per serve: 5


500 grams boneless chicken breasts, skin and fat removed
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons cold water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon black or red rice vinegar, or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chicken broth or water
3 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon hoi sin sauce
a few drops sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornflour
cooking spray
6 to 8 small dried red chillies, or as desired, seeds removed for less heat
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 spring onions, sliced on diagonal
1/2 cup skinless, unsalted peanuts

Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Mix in the soy sauce, rice wine or sherry, water and cornflour. Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl mix together the soy sauce, vinegar, chicken stock, sugar, salt, sesame oil and hoisin sauce, whisking in the cornflour last.

Spray a wok with cooking spray and over a high heat add half of the chicken cooking for about 1 minute, until the cubes separate and turn white. Remove and repeat with remainder of the chicken.

Respray the wok and add the chillies and stir-fry until the skins starts to darken and blister. Add the garlic and spring onion. Stir-fry until aromatic (about 30 seconds). Add the chicken back into the pan and toss until chicken is heated through, then push up to the sides of the wok and add add the sauce in the middle, stirring quickly to thicken. Stir in the peanuts. Stir fry for a further 1 to 2 minutes or until everything is coated and hot.

Serve immediately.

(click here for a printable version of this recipe)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Jo, you got your own thread!

http://www.weightwatchers.com.au/community/mbd/post.aspx?page_size=25&rownum=43&threadpage_no=2&sincedate=5%2f01%2f2010+12%3a00%3a00+AM&thread_id=2239570&board_id=560&forum_id=1&thread_name=What+is+Big+bucket+in+the+sky+Chicken%3f%3f&mod_no=&daterange=2days&viewchange=OPENDATEDESC

DailyChef said...

Awesome! I've never associated Kung Pao Chicken with "healthy" but this recipe just proves me wrong!