Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Kung Pao Veggies

Usually, I plan weekly menus and don't really have to think about what I am going to fix for dinner. But, once in awhile it gets close to dinner time and I think to myself- What am I going to make?
That is what happened last week. I had cooked spaghetti noodles in the fridge and tons of vegetables. I remember seeing this recipe for Kung Pao Chicken over at Barbara Bakes and I figured I could make it quickly. I printed off the recipe, chopped my veggies and warmed up the noodles. Dinner was ready in a flash!
I used zucchini, carrots, sugar snap peas, and a yellow onion. I left out the chicken because I didn't have any ready. I just stir-fried the veggies in the sesame oil and then added the sauce after a couple of minutes. I served it over the noodles and topped it off with some cashews.
This was a quick and easy recipe and it was really simple to adapt it with what I had on hand in my fridge. I included the recipe that Barbara used, but just keep in mind that it is really easy to adapt.
My family loved it!

Kung Pao Chicken seen over at Barbara Bakes, who adapted from For the Love of Cooking

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into bite sized chunks
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
6 green onions, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 1/2 cup pea pods, steamed until tender
Combine chicken and cornstarch in a Ziploc bag and toss until evenly coated. Combine the vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a bowl and set aside for later.
Heat a large skillet or wok with sesame oil over medium high heat. Once the pan is smoking hot add the chicken and stir fry for 5-6 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Add the garlic, ginger, red pepper and green onions (leaving a few for garnishing) to the pan and stir fry for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the soy sauce, vinegar and sugar mixture to the pan along with the cooked chicken, peanuts, carrots, and pea pods.
Cook for a few minutes until sauce thickens up a bit and carrots are tender. Serve over rice or noodles and top with remaining green onions.
Up Next-Root Beer Bundt Cake

9 comments:

Barbara Bakes said...

Your version looks delicious! My sons loves cashews.

Treehouse Chef said...

This looks so healty and so good! Yum!

Eliana said...

This meal looks delicious. A potpourri of flavors with a little bit of everything.

JOY said...

YUM - sounds and looks delicous and easy enought for even ME to make. Can't wait to see the Root Beer Bundt Cake

Karen said...

I always cook more spaghetti than I'll need and I use it with leftovers for another pasta, but this is something different and looks great!

Cathy said...

This looks delicious! I love Chinese food but for some reason never think to cook it. We would love this one!

Anonymous said...

YUM! Your Kung Pao veggies look delcious. I love it.

Kerstin said...

Oh, that does look really tasty, I love the cashews in Kung Pao dishes! Sounds like a quick and easy meal for weeknights!

Steph said...

That looks delicious! I love cashews in stirfries. I was at the grocery store the other day and saw some steel cut oats and thought about you when I bought them. They are so much yummier than the regular soggy kinds!