Chicken Chunks with Peanuts in Spicy Sauce
Submitted by RoyceRolls
Egg white-battered chicken chunks fried crisp in peanut oil, tossed with roasted peanuts in a spicy sauce of garlic, ginger, dark soy, sesame oil, and red vinegar. Sichuan-inspired heat at home.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
30 minREADY
1 hrsThis is the dish that made Sichuan cooking famous, and doing it right at home is absolutely worth the effort.
Chicken breast gets cut into bite-sized chunks, coated in an egg white and water chestnut flour batter, and fried until the outside shatters while the inside stays juicy.
The sauce brings the real magic: garlic, fresh ginger, dark soy, red vinegar, sesame oil, and dry sherry all simmered together into something complex and addictive.
Toss in roasted peanuts at the end and you’ve got that irresistible combination of crunch, heat, and nutty richness.
Chef Tips
- Beat the egg white into the water chestnut flour with a single chopstick, not a whisk. It creates a lighter, silkier coating.
- Water chestnut flour gives a crispier fry than cornstarch. It’s worth seeking out at an Asian grocery.
- Let the battered chicken marinate for a full 5 minutes before frying so the coating adheres
- Have the sauce mixed and ready before you start frying. Once the chicken is crisp, you need to move fast.
Ingredients
Directions
Trim ends off green onions and cut light green and white part into 1 inch sections.
Mix all other sauce ingredients in 2-quart saucepan.
Reserve. Pull skin off breasts, then pull chicken meat from bones.
Slice meat into 1 inch strips, then crosswise to make 1 inch chunks.
In bowl large enough to hold chicken, add egg white to water chestnut flour.
Beat mixture with a single chopstick (not an egg beater or whisk).
Stir chicken pieces into egg mixture to coat thoroughly.
Marinate 5 minutes.
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