Abby Kung Pao!

 I have been slacking on the posting. But have been cooking so I will play a little catch-up now. However, that whole 30 day blog challenge thing? Not for me. I can't even remember to brush my teeth every day, let along blog. (Just kidding, I brush my teeth, don't worry.)

As part of my New Year's Resolution of cooking more "Asian" inspired dishes, I am on to dish #2: my version of Kung Pao Chicken and Vegetables. It's definitely Asian flavors, but I don't think I will be given any acclamations from PF Chang anytime soon. Buuuut, in all fairness, my pacific-islander husband, who also happens to be an all-asian-foods lover, said it was really good. So I will go off of that.

You will probably start to notice a trend in these "Asian" dishes: none of them contain ingredients I don't already have in my pantry. I am not quite ready to start investing in fish sauce, oyster sauce, hoisen sauce, etc. So, I am trying to encapsulate the same flavors, minus the strange ingredients.

On a really exciting note (you will probably only find this exciting if you have been to a Shabu Shabu restaurant- which is basically a Japanese fondu type of place): I FINALLY got my handles on a bottle of hot drops. Google "Shabu Shabu hot drops" and you will see what I am talking about. SO EXCITED.

This recipe is good for 2 hungry people. Serve over white rice.

Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 1
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 6
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 5

Abby Kung Pao
Marinade:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 Tbl white wine (use whatever you are drinking) 
1 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl sesame oil
1 Tbl cornstarch, dissolved in 1 Tbl water

Sauce:
1 Tbl and 1 tsp white wine
1 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl sesame oil
1 Tbl cornstarch, dissolved in 1 Tbl water
1.5 tsp white distilled vinegar
2 tsp brown sugar
1 ounce chili paste OR 2 hot drops OR 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp honey
1 Tbl fresh garlic, minced

Veggies:
5-6 white button or baby brown mushrooms, sliced
1/4 sweet or yellow onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 green bell pepper, cut into 1/2 in pieces
Small can of pineapple chunks (in their own juice)
1 carrot, julienned
1 egg, beaten

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix. In a shallow dish, put chicken, and then pour marinade over, and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. For sauce, add all ingredients in a bowl and mix. In a small sauce pan, heat sauce over low heat, stirring every couple of minutes. Once sauce thickens, remove from heat. Place large fry pan or wok over medium heat. Take chicken out of fridge, discard marinade, and add chicken to heated pan, along with mushrooms, onions, and bell pepper. Cook over medium heat until chicken cooked through. Add  carrots and pineapple to taste (I like about a 1/4 of the can of pineapple). Continue to cook over low heat for about 1 minute. In a separate small fry pan, scramble and then shred the egg. In the large fry pan with chicken and vegetable, add the sauce, toss to coat everything, and cook for another minute. Add shredded egg and serve over rice.

NOTES/TIPS:
This dish is very good. It's pretty spicy, the pineapple makes it sweet, and the carrots give it a little crunch. It will smell heavily of sesame oil (which I personally do not like), but the taste of sesame oil won't be nearly as strong. If you know how to divide the sesame oil, that's even better, but if you don't, you aren't missing anything. For the white wine, just use whatever you are drinking. If you are blesses enough to have hot drops at your disposal, do NOT add more than 2 drops. You might die. Well, that's an exaggeration, but you might not feel your lips for a week and have some interesting stomach issues. Also, if you don't have the pineapple, it's not necessary, it just adds a little sweet spot to it. And although all of these steps sound difficult, they really aren't. I just make things sound more difficult than they are. It's what I do.