Kung Pao Chicken
The Szechuan classic, kung pao chicken has all the things we love about Chinese cooking rolled into one glorious dish – sweet, sour, salty and spicy. And yet it remains a minefield for most wines because of all those essential elements. Well, that is unless you’re planning on grabbing our current pack, Great Southern Land.
And while you could successfully partner it up to wines from Ravensworth, Massena or Côtier in the GSL pack, we struggle to go past the delicious Smallfry ‘Tangerine Dream’ as the ideal match, with its exotic fruit profile, textured mouth-feel and firm tannic finish. An absolutely delicious combo that you have to try.
Gān Bēi!
INGREDIENTS
– Serves 2 –
400 g chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tbsp. cornflour
2 tbsp. Chinese black vinegar
1 tbsp. dark soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
½ cup peanuts
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 handful of dried chillies
1 tbsp. Szechuan peppercorns
1 tbsp. caster sugar
4 spring onions, cut into 4-cm batons
1 spring onion, finely sliced
steamed jasmine rice, to serve
METHOD
Pour yourself a glass of 2016 Smallfry ‘Tangerine Dream’.
Combine the chicken, cornflour, vinegar, soy and sesame oil in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a hot wok. Once it starts to smoke, add half the chicken and stir-fry until browned, then set aside. Repeat for the second batch, reserving any excess marinade in the bowl.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok. Add the peanuts, stir-fry until golden and set aside.
Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the wok. Add the garlic, chillies and peppercorns and stir-fry for 1 minute. Return the chicken to the wok with the excess marinade, add the sugar and stir-fry for another minute.
Add the spring onion batons and stir-fry for another minute. Toss through the peanuts and tip into a serving bowl.
Garnish with the sliced spring onion and serve with rice on the side.
