Of late, I don't go out too often or order delivery much. I do like Chinese (there are 6 or 7 within a 10 block area), but it always seems way too heavy or gloppy. In the past, there was a hole-in-the-wall that had a wonderful lunch special, Chicken with Peanuts, an egg roll or a soup (wonton/egg drop/hot & sour), for $3.70 (this was back in the mid 90's). An ice cream scoop of white rice and one of those small oval plates about 2/3 full with one of the limited main courses. Really was a delightful and cheap lunch. The third ownership change also changed the ingredients in dishes. They started putting green pepper in the Chicken with Peanuts, so I stopped ordering it. But I had a craving for it.
The dish is small pieces of boneless chicken breaded and fried. Carrots, celery, water chestnuts and peanuts make up the other ingredients. It's served with a dark sauce, soy and other things, plus some heat. I really like the dish. So today I made my version. I'm not going to lie, the chicken was labor intensive and time consuming. But in the end, it was worth it.
Here's the list:
Almost a pound of carrots, cut into odd shapes (I used a 1 lb. bag less one carrot)
2 ribs of celery, sliced on the bias
1 can whole water chestnuts, drained and quartered on the flat side
1/2 cup shelled and deskinned peanuts
1 orange, zest reserved and juiced/strained
1 small hot chili, halved and cut into half moons
1 dried Thai bird chili, crushed
1 3 inch finger of ginger, minced, about 2 TBS
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced, about 1 TBS
(1/2 red pepper, cut into 1/2 inch or so pieces; I had it in the fridge so I threw it in, but normally I would not use pepper)
Flour
Panko bread crumbs
Salt
Black pepper
White pepper
Oil for shallow frying
Peanut oil
1 lb. boneless chicken breasts
3 egg whites
The sauce:
Juice of one orange
Hoi-sin sauce, about 3-4 TBS, more if you really like hoi-sin like I do
Soy sauce, about 1-2 TBS
Garlic chili sauce, about 2-3 TBS
Teriyaki sauce, about 2 TBS
Sriracha sauce, about 1 tsp
Rice wine vinegar, splash
Sesame oil, drizzle
A few drops of hot chili oil
Obviously, you can use whatever you like, but those are what I used and they can be adjusted to taste. You want about a cup to a cup and a half of sauce.
In a dredging bowl, add flour, salt and black pepper. Stir to mix.
In another shallow bowl, beat the egg whites with a dash of white pepper. Beating it will break up any strands.
For the chicken, cut into small pieces, about 1/2 inch. In batches, dunk in the egg white then add to the flour and coat. Place on a rack, and continue until all the chicken is coated. Let the chicken sit for about 15 minutes to get tacky again. Removing some of the flour, add Panko bread crumbs. Recoat. Immediately add to a pan with enough oil for shallow frying. Cook until well golden, place on a new rack and let drain. Continue until all the chicken is done.
Heat the wok.
Add a small amount of peanut oil and swirl (I used less than 2 tsp). Add the ginger, garlic and dried chili and saute for about a minute or two. Add the carrots, cooking for a little while, stirring often. Then add the celery (and the red pepper). Cook for another few minutes. Add the water chestnuts, peanuts and hot pepper. Cook until thoroughly warmed through. Pour in the sauce and stir to coat the vegetables. Add the chicken and continue to toss until warmed through. Turn off heat and add orange zest. Stir to mix. Serve immediately with white rice.
I had two healthy portions for supper, with enough leftovers for maybe 3 more servings. Sometimes I surprise the shyt out of myself. This was one of those times. Well worth the effort.
A Chinese feast if there ever was one. And did I mention there's leftovers?
