Tso's Chicken

Serves 4

 Chicken

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
• Sweet Sauce

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon Guilin chili sauce or Sriracha
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon yellow bean sauce (soybean paste)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce

STIR-FRY:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 clove garlic, peeled, left whole and crushed
• 1 tablespoon Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
• 4 whole dried Sichuan chilies

• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 cup peanuts, toasted and chopped
• 8 ounces egg noodles, cooked per package instructions

DIRECTIONS

For the chicken: In a large bowl, sprinkle the chicken with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the cornstarch and mix well. 

For the sweet sauce: In another bowl, add the stock, chili sauce, ketchup, light soy sauce, rice vinegar, yellow bean sauce, honey and dark soy sauce together and set aside. 

For the stir-fry: Heat a wok over high heat and when the wok starts to smoke, add the vegetable oil. Add the garlic and chicken pieces and let the chicken settle in the wok for 1 minute before stir-frying for another 2 minutes. As the chicken starts to turn opaque, add the rice wine and dried chilies and fry for a few seconds. Then add the sweet sauce mixture and cook for another 3 minutes. 

Cook the chicken in the sauce until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced, is slightly sticky and has a thicker consistency, another 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the scallions and peanuts and cook for less than 1 minute. Toss in the noodles and then transfer to a serving plate.