Well, imagine my surprise when I saw kung pao chicken (宫保鸡丁, pronounced gong bao ji ding) on the menu in China. As it turns out, kung pao chicken is a Sichuanese. It’s usually made with a combination of chicken, vegetables and peanuts and a generous helping of spice (chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns). The best part about the dish, though, is not the chicken. Oh no, it’s all about the peanuts. I still reminisce about those days in China, where I would sit around the dinner table and chat with my friends, picking off individual peanuts with my chopsticks and whiling away the time. Life operated at a much slower pace when I lived there . . . Stir frying peanuts with vegetables sounds like something that shouldn’t work, but it does. I absolutely love the crunch of the peanuts. In this vegetarian version, I’m substituting the chicken for pan-fried tofu. This kung pao tofu stir fry takes only 30 minutes to make and it’s great with a side of rice or whatever grains you have on hand!
MASTERING MY MISTAKES / COOKING NOTES
Tips for stir frying tofu: In the instructions for the recipe, I pan fry the tofu separately before cooking the vegetables. This gives the tofu a nice sear on the sides and allows the tofu to pick up more sauce. If you skip the pan-frying step and cook the tofu and vegetables together, the dish will become more soggy.Using raw peanuts: For the photos, I’m using raw peanuts (shelled peanuts with their papery skin still in tact) that I roasted at 200ºF (95ºC) for 1 hour. After roasting them, I gently rubbed the papery skin off of some of the peanuts. You don’t have to use raw peanuts—roasted, unsalted peanuts work just fine. I just happen to have several pounds of raw peanuts sitting in my pantry that needed to be used.
