Kung pao chicken

Before you start

• a wok or your widest pan — the sauce mixed and everything chopped before it is lit

Ingredients

Serves 2 · dimmer marks are storecupboard

• 250gchicken thighs — boneless, diced small
• 50gpeanuts — raw if you can, and fried in the oil first
• 100gjasmine rice
• 1 tbspoil
• 8dried red chillies
• 1 tspSichuan peppercorns
• 1 thumbgarlic and ginger
• 4spring onions
• 2 tbspsoy sauce
• 2 tbsprice vinegar
• 2 tspsugar
• 2 tspcornflour

Method

7 steps

1. boil · 15m walk away

   Rice rinsed and on, lid, lowest heat.

2. chop · 10m

   Chicken into small dice, garlic and ginger minced, spring onions cut into short lengths, chillies snipped in half and most of the seeds shaken out.

3. fold · 4m

   Chicken turned through half the soy and a teaspoon of the cornflour and left to sit.

4. fold · 3m

   The sauce mixed in a cup: the rest of the soy, the vinegar, sugar, remaining cornflour and two spoons of water. It has to be ready before the pan is lit, because from that point there is no time to measure anything.

5. fry · 4m

   Peanuts fried in the oil until they colour and lifted out, then the heat dropped, chillies and crushed peppercorns in and swirled for twenty seconds only, until they smell sharp and the chillies have darkened a shade. Take them past that and the pan is finished.

6. fry · 6m

   Heat back up, chicken in one layer and left to colour, then tossed until it is cooked right through with no pink, garlic and ginger for ten seconds, and the sauce poured round the edge — it thickens almost immediately.

7. finish · 3m

   Peanuts and spring onion through off the heat so the nuts stay crisp, with the rice alongside.