Comfort Food Translates in Every Language

Everyone has their go-to comfort food. Mine is and has always been Chinese food or sushi. I can't do Chinese take-out, and today was definitely an 'I need Chinese food' kind of day. I made an amazing Mongolian Beef recipe last week, so I was going to just make that again, but then I came across a Kung Pao Chicken recipe and that sounded delicious too! And I also had this stuck in my head for the rest of the day...

I watched this a lot when I was in college because the boys I nanny'd for were in love with Veggie Tales. Also, so was my roommate :)

How'd your day go? Mine ended with leftover juice box from
Saturday. It's best to have a juice box instead of a glass bottle
when tailgating. Safety first.

I had to make several modifications, and I actually had to remake the sauce because I broke Cardinal Rule #1, I didn't check the ingredients of the Chinese Black Vinegar bottle before I bought it and only noticed that it had onion and garlic in it when I was looking to see if I needed to refrigerate after opening...so, tossed out sauce batch #1 and started over! Also, one of the main ingredients of normal Kung Pao Chicken is peanuts, and if you can eat them, they can be added at the end. The original recipe is on Closet Cooking.

Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1 T and 1 tsp gf soy sauce*
1 T Chinkiang (Chinese black vineggar) or balsamic vinegar**
2 T chicken broth or water***
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
3 T oil (I used chili-infused olive oil and it was delicious)
1 tsp to 1 T Sichuan peppercorns, toasted and ground****
1 T ground ginger (You can use fresh, I had ground in the cupboard)
4 green onions (only use the green part and DO NOT use the white part), sliced
1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:
1. Mix the soy sauces, vinegar, broth/water, sugar and corn starch and set aside.
2. Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add the chicken and saute until just about cooked and set aside.
3. Heat the remaining oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add the chilies and peppercorns and saute until fragrant, about one minute.
4.  Add the ginger and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
5. Add the sauce mixture, bring to a boil, add the chicken and green onions (and peanuts if you can have them), remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil.
6. I served it over brown rice.

*the original called for 1 T light soy sauce and 1 tsp dark soy sauce. I just used 1 tsp and 1 T of my soy sauce and called it a day.
**the Chinkiang is NOT Kim-friendly, so I used balsamic vinegar when I re-made the sauce
***I used water because I haven't had time to make any chicken broth and if you're low FODMAP, you can't eat commercial brand broths
****because I decided to make this at 3pm, I did not have time to go to the Asian grocery store, and not surprisingly, HyVee did not have this. Instead, I just sprinkled some Chinese Five Spice into the pan when I was supposed to put in the peppercorns. Still good

Dried Chili Pepper-in the Asian
Section of your store

Sauce Version #1...the second round looked exactly the same.
You must always have red wine when you cook. 

The smells! So good

Voila! Kung Pao Chicken

Super exciting weekend of Halloween shenanigans, a big WIN for ISU against the Evil Texas Longhorns, and Sunday Craft Day. I'm moving in two months. And I guess I'm nesting? Is that a thing when you are getting ready to move?