Classical Chinese cuisine finds many fans around the world. One of the most popular recipes is gunbao chicken. In the menu of Chinese and European restaurants, such a dish is in great demand. It should be noted that the price tag for this menu item will be pretty decent. As for Russian restaurants, such a dish is served only in expensive establishments.
And if you can’t afford a trip to China and don’t want to spend your family budget on visiting a fashionable restaurant, then there is always the option to cook this dish in your own kitchen. It will cost you an order of magnitude cheaper. Yes, and the whole family can be involved in cooking. Here you just need to know a few nuances of cooking and choose the right pan.
Proper utensils
As you know, the key to half the success of the proper preparation of any Chinese dish is high-quality wok. This pan works great both on an open fire and on a regular gas or induction cooker. It is important to choose a good manufacturer, so as not to be disappointed in the quality of dishes in the future. The wok must be made of good steel and properly processed. When you cook in such a pan, the products should not burn, there should not be an irony taste or smell.
Before cooking, it is important to properly process and rinse the surface of the dishes. Gunbao chicken is a recipe that requires maximum return of aromas and tastes of the products, so there should not be any foreign impurities or the smell of detergent in the pan. Wok should be washed with a stiff brush (sponge) and only with water, without adding household chemicals.
Ingredients for the dish
To prepare the “Gunbao chicken” recipe, you will need exclusively fresh and high-quality products. There is no need to save here, otherwise it will not work to enjoy the true taste.
- Two to three slices of chicken (350 g).
- A pair of garlic cloves. For those who like "hotter", you can take more.
- Ginger root (3-5 cm).
- 5-7 slices of green onions. This recipe uses a juicy white onion.
- Chili pepper (3-4 pcs.). You can use either dried or fresh chili. You can mix in equal amounts of both.
- Two types of bell pepper (it is better to take multi-colored pepper).
- Sichuan pepper - 1 teaspoon. Do not take it ground, it does not preserve the sharpness and aroma.
- 100 grams of nuts. You can take regular peanuts or cashews.
- 4-5 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Ingredients for Marinade and Sauce
So, you made the decision to cook such a dish as gunbao chicken. The classic recipe for this dish necessarily includes pickling chicken, you should not forget about it. For the marinade you will need:
- A couple of teaspoons of soy sauce (it is better to take light).
- One tsp wine (Shaoxing).
- A tablespoon of water.
- 0.5 teaspoon of salt.
- One tsp corn starch.
Immerse the chicken in the cooked marinade and leave it to soak for half an hour. Cooking and marinating meat is an important process. Gunbao chicken is not an ordinary breast with lemon in a skillet. All the smallest nuances are important here.
Preparing a dish with a special sauce. It consists of several types of soy sauce (a pair of spoons), one tsp. sesame oil, three tsp. granulated sugar and a couple tablespoons of water.
Ingredient preparation
Try to prepare the ingredients and the sauce in advance, as the dish is done over high heat. This is a quick gongbao chicken. A recipe with a photo is presented in our article. Photos will convince you that the main thing is that all products in the process are at hand.
Garlic and ginger are peeled from the upper "clothes" and finely chopped. It is better not to use a grater or garlic press. Hot chili peppers should be washed, remove the internal partitions and seeds. Peppers are cut into small strips. If you don’t like spicy dishes, you can replace chili with paprika or remove ginger from the recipe. However, the gongbao chicken will not turn out to be classical, and you will not get the full range of pleasure from Chinese food.
We clean the nuts. Pour into a skillet where a small amount of sesame oil is poured. Warm up and fry a little, until an obvious aroma appears. We spread it on a paper towel in order to remove unnecessary oil. Cut green onions into circles. Bell pepper - in small layers or strip.
Cooking process
We put the pan on a strong fire and heat it until a smoke appears. Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. Try to spread the oil over the entire surface of the pan. As soon as the oil warms up, pour it out and put the wok on the fire again.
Add again a couple of tablespoons of oil and lay the first batch of ingredients. It will be chili and sichuan pepper. At this point, the speed should be lifted from the fire and let the oil soak in spices, while not allowing them to burn. Return the wok to the fire and add the chicken.
As soon as the chicken changes its pinkish color to white, add ginger, green onions, bell pepper and garlic. Gongbao Chicken with Peanuts - The recipe is very quick. In order for the meat to be saturated with spices and saturated with aromas, it will take only a couple of minutes.
After this time, add the sauce prepared in advance. The dish should be constantly stirred, not removing from high heat. As soon as the sauce becomes glossy and thickens, you can add nuts. Mix all the ingredients and remove the wok from the heat.
Garnish and serve
The dish is served immediately after cooking. The classics are hot, as they say, with hot heat of gunbao chicken. You can use the dish in the cold. But it is in the cold. It should not be warmed up, reheated in the microwave at the arrival of guests (as we are used to).
As for the side dish, there are several options. Firstly, you can not use any side dish at all. The Chinese enjoy this dish, so to speak, in its original form. Only a plate with bread or sesame strips of dough is added to the table. If you don’t have enough chicken to get enough or you want to dilute the too sharp taste of the dish, then you can use rice noodles or rice to garnish.
An aperitif for this dish is a classic Chinese white wine. You can also get Japanese plum wine.