Gong bao chicken

Ingredients

Quantities for 4 servings.

• 500 g Chicken breast, in 2 cm dice
• 1 piece Egg white
• 2 tbsp Cornflour
• 80 g Roasted peanuts
• 8 piece Whole dried chillies
• 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 3 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 tsp Sugar
• 3 clove Garlic
• 15 g Ginger
• 4 piece Spring onion
• 3 tbsp Neutral oil

Method

1. Mix the chicken with the egg white, a spoon of cornflour, a spoon of soy and a pinch of salt, and leave it twenty minutes.
2. Mix the sauce in advance: vinegar, the rest of the soy, the sugar and the rest of the cornflour with two spoons of water. Keep it within reach — there is no time to mix it later.
3. Heat the oil and fry the chillies with the Sichuan pepper for twenty seconds, until dark but not black. Burnt chilli turns bitter.
4. Add the chicken and leave it alone for a minute, then toss and cook through — two minutes more.
5. Throw in the garlic, ginger and the white of the spring onion, then after half a minute pour in the sauce. It thickens in seconds. Off the heat, add the peanuts and the green of the onion.