Kung Pao Shrimp/Chicken

So, you don't like shrimp? Mei guanxi (don't worry about it), no worry beef curry, the chicken is a, "winna-winna chicken dinna" too. My husband isn't a huge fan of shrimp but if it's done well he could eat a ton. He also hates onions, which this recipe calls for; so as you can guess this dish must be good if he requests it at least once a week.

As I have said before, I find a lot of my recipes online, I found this one and made a few adjustments. I like it spicy, as Mama Mai knows well. PS, I'm still scarred by that teppenyaki place.

Kung Pao Shrimp/ Chicken

2-4 dried chili (I used about 6 or 7)

1 1/2 TBSP peanut oil

1 lb chicken thigh; cubed/ shrimp 

(I used the shelled-deveigned-tail on/)

1/3 C raw shelled peanuts

1 medium sized onion; cubed

2 TBSP water

1 TBSP shoyu (soy sauce)

1 TBSP Chili bean sauce

2 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp sugar

2 garlic cloves; minced

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp sesame oil

 1) Heat the oil; add chili and stir. Allow the oil to soak into the chili a little to release the spice

2) Add in the raw peanuts and meat (the shrimp tends to release water when cooking. You might want to double to sauce recipe for it). In a small bowl, mix all other ingredients except onions and sesame oil.

3) Add in the onions (I didn't write fresh snap peas, but those are bomb in this dish. If you like, add it in now)

4) When the meat is almost done (the shrimp shouldn't be orange, when it has no more gray and is pinkish) add in the ingredients mixed in the bowl.

5) Bring to boil. The sauce will get thick so you might want to stir fry it.

6) After the sauce is thicker, reduce head and simmer. 

7) Add sesame oil

Serves 3-4. I know, not a lot. But dude, this is bomb diggity. 

Oh, and another thing, if you are planning on doing the chicken I would use thighs sooooo ono!

Enjoy my fellow food lovers

Fired

Have I mentioned how horrible I am at Blogging? I've recently decided that I'm not a finisher. I love starting new things but for some reason I can never finish them, unless we're talking about the songs I've written on the guitar, those get done pretty quick.

So now I'm back and ready to go. Per request I will spend the next couple posts talking about my AMAZING Chinese New Year feast. That was, as we say, onolicious. Or for those SNL and Will Ferrel (sp?) fans, scrumtrelescent. Honestly, we were so stuffed afterwards. From homemade guotie to pork hash and manapua bread to choy sum, our meal was complete. Here is a teaser of a pic for those of you who wanted to know how amazing it looked.

Okay, maybe it's been a while because for some reason it looked better when I was hungry. Oh well.

As you can see our menu was as follows:

Kung Pao Shrimp
Kung Pao Chicken (my friend doesn't like shrimp)
Guotie (potstickers)
Pork Hash (Almost the same as the guotie except it is steamed)
Manapua Bread (Baozi/steamed buns)
Taiwanese rice (mine turned out HORRIBLE so I won't share)
White Rice
Choy Sum

Yes my friends, we were in Chinese heaven. I felt like I was back home in Hawai'i. Today, let's start small; choy sum.

I believe for this night I used Ching Kai Choy. Honestly, I think that or bok choy are the best. I actually came up with the recipe at a girls night with some of my girlfriends. One handed me some bok choy and says, "make something". I'm not one to just throw something together, but I can honestly say we were all pretty surprised at the outcome of this dish. I just guessed on these measurements so go ahead and add or subtract to the amounts based on what you like.

Ingredients:

2-3 bunches bok/ching kai choy
1 Tbsp peanut oil
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 1/2 tsp sesame seed oil
1 Tbsp sugar
Sesame seeds (optional)

1) Cut off the ends of the "choy" and rinse the leafy greens

2) On medium-high, heat oil. Add in the greens and stir.

3) When the leafs begin softening add in the oyster sauce (it may smell). After stirring for a couple of minutes (seriously, only a couple => 2), add in the sugar and continue to stir.

4) Once the "choy" is softened and flimsy (yeah, my vocabulary isn't too impressive), add the sesame seed oil and stir for a little longer.

5) Add sesame seeds if desired. It already has sesame seed oil so it will be more for looks. Serve it up.

Like I said, this one may be a trial and error (or trial and success at finding what NOT to do, for all my "cup half full" friends) so try it out and add to or take away from this recipe.

**A Hui Hou**