Kung Pao Chicken

All I wanted to do this past weekend was cook and bake and watch trashy tv in my pajamas! Oh and did I mention that I just wanted to avoid the laundry pile? It didn't exactly work out that way, but I did get a lot of cooking and baking done, which always makes me happy!

My pants are still a bit snug from the Mixed Conference the weekend before, which of course means I attended a cookie exchange, and baked a solid two dozen other cookies when I got home the next day. You know, this food blogger thing is just trouble. Thank God I can afford a gym membership!

We finally got snow here in Minnesota! And for once the weather people got it right - they said 6-9 inches and I woke up and we were already at about 4 inches on Sunday morning. Which I loved because I had absolutely no where else to be! It finally looks like Christmas, so I have officially busted out the Christmas mug! Snow actually makes for great light in our kitchen, so I was super excited with the way the photos turned out for this dish!

This recipe isn't new to the blog, it was passed along by my MIL and it's a favorite that we come back to time and time again. My husband loves meals like this, it's saucey, served over rice and it heats up really well as leftovers. The recipe has three phases, so I broke up the ingredients list accordingly.

Ingredients in the chicken:

1 lb. chicken, cubed

1 tablespoon dry sherry - sherry cooking wine will do the trick

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Ingredients in the sauce:
1/4 cup water

1/4 cup soy sauce

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon vinegar

Tabasco - to taste, we use just a few dashes

Ingredients in the dish:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 teaspoons ginger root, grated

2 cloves of garlic

1 bunch of green onions, sliced thinly

1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts

White rice, for serving

1. Cut the chicken into cubes and place in a small bowl, add the sherry and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. Stir together and let it sit for 15 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the water, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, vinegar and the tobasco, set aside.
3. In a large skillet, pour the vegetable oil and heat at medium low for a couple of minutes. Then add the ginger root and garlic. Cook for about a minute. Then add the chicken and cook together until there is no pink remaining on the chicken. Whisk together the sauce ingredients again and pour them into the skillet. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the green onions and peanuts. Stir together and serve over white rice.

**Mike prefers this dish extra saucey, so I double the sauce, but only use the 4 teaspoons cornstarch. Make it yours!

Enjoy!