Kung Pao Chicken

The hot sauce in this recipe didn't provide enough of a kick for us, but it was great for the kids. We sprinkled red pepper flakes over our plates with the green part of the scallions and that did the trick!

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp canola oil

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

1 clove garlic, minced

4 scallions, chopped

1 red pepper, cut into bite sized chunks

1 1/4 cup water

1/4 cup soy sauce (I'd recommend low sodium!)

4 tsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp red wine vinegar

hot pepper sauce (to taste)

Directions:

1. Toss chicken with sesame oil and set aside.

2. Heat canola oil in skillet and add peanuts. Saute 23 minutes, without browning them. Transfer peanuts to a large bowl and set aside.

3. Add garlic, white portion of the scallions and the pepper chunks to the pan and saute about 1-2 minutes until tender. Transfer these ingredients to the bowl with the peanuts.

4. Add chicken to the pan. Saute until browned and fully cooked, about 6-10 minutes.

5. While chicken start preparing the sauce in a bowl by adding the water, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, vinegar and hot sauce. Stir until well blended.

6. When the chicken is full cooked add it to the bowl with the peanut and pepper mixture. Stir the sauce one more time to ensure the cornstarch isn't sticking to the bottom and then add it to the pan, stirring constantly until thickened.

7. Once the sauce has thickened add the chicken and peanut mixture. Simmer 1 minute until heated through.

8. Serve over rice with scallion greens sprinkled on top.