Desperation Dinners: Kung Pao Chicken gets downsized
We adore Chinese food, and for years we’ve experimented with trying to duplicate our favorite restaurant dishes at home. Actually? It works a whole lot better than you might think!
However, most of our recipes serve four or six people, and now that we’re both living in the “empty nest,” we were curious to see whether we could not only duplicate a recipe but also downsize it to serve just two.
Kung Pao Chicken is a perennial restaurant favorite, and when we discussed this dish the other day, we realized we had never tried a “desperate” version of it. Alicia went right to work in the test kitchen and came out with a wonderful version of Kung Pao Chicken for Two. (Of course, the recipe can be doubled or even tripled. Just adjust cooking times as necessary to account for more volume in your pan.)
We got one shocker when we sent the recipe to our dietitian for nutrient analysis. This dish is a bit higher in fat than most of our recipes. Two suggestions: Use it only as a splurge, or adjust the peanuts. We all know nuts are high in fat, so instead of adding your nuts to the pan and sauteing them, use only a ¼ cup (or so) of unsalted roasted peanuts, chop them finely, and then sprinkle over the finished dish as a garnish. You’ll still get that peanut flavor that makes this dish famous, but you’ll scale back on calories and fat.
We hope you’ll let us know what you think of this dish. You can e-mail us at tellus@KitchenScoop.com. And today, on the Kitchen Scoop website, you’ll find another of our favorite Chinese recipes.
Suggested menu: Kung Pao Chicken for Two with orange segments.
Ÿ Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross are co-authors of “Desperation Dinners!” Write them at Desperation Dinners, c/o United Media, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016, or tellus@kitchenscoop.com. More at the Desperation Dinners website, kitchenscoop.com.