All Easy Recipes. Cook all that you can cook. Stir - Fried Chicken With Pine Nuts And Hot Peppers
(Sung - Tzu - Chi - Ssu)
 
What You Need:            (To Serve: 4 to 6 as main course or 8 to 10 as Chinese Meal)
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  • 2 whole chicken breasts about ¾ pound each
  • ½ cup pine nuts ("pignolia" nuts)
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 egg white
  • 1½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or pale dry sherry
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • 8 - 12 lettuce leaves
  • 4 tablespoons peanut oil, or flavorless vegetable oil
  • 3 small, fresh, hot chili peppers, finely shredded
  • 1 teaspoon finely shredded, peeled fresh ginger root
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold chicken stock, fresh or canned, or cold water

    • How To Cook:
    PREPARE AHEAD:
    1. One at a time, bone, skin and shred the chicken breasts in the following fashion: Lay the whole chicken breast on its side on a chopping board.

    2. Holding the breast firmly in place with your hand, cut it lengthwise through the skin along the curved breastbone with a cleaver or sharp knife.

    3. Carefully free the meat from the bones with the cleaver. Then grasp the meat in one hand, and pull it off the bones and away from the skin-using the cleaver to free the meat if necessary.

    4. Turn the breast over and repeat on the other side. Remove each tube-shaped fillet from the boned breast meat, and pull out and discard the white tendon in each fillet.

    5. Lay the breast meat and fillets flat, and cut them horizontally into paper-thin slices. Now cut the slices into shreds about 1/8 inch wide and 1½ to 2 inches long.

    6. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the pine nuts evenly on a jelly-roll pan or baking sheet and bake them in the center of the oven for about 5 minutes, or until they are lightly speckled with brown. Be careful not to let them burn. Reserve them in a bowl.

    7. Place the 2 teaspoons of cornstarch in a small bowl, add the chicken shreds and toss them about until they are lightly coated. Add the egg white, salt, wine and sugar, and stir them with the chicken until they are thoroughly mixed together.

    8. Separate the lettuce leaves, wash them under cold running water and pat them dry with paper towels. Arrange them on a serving platter and refrigerate.

    9. Have the above ingredients, and the chili peppers, ginger and cornstarch mixture within easy reach.

    TO COOK:
    1. Set a 12-inch wok or 10-inch skillet over high heat for 30 seconds. Pour in 1 tablespoon of the oil, swirl it about in the pan and heat for another 30 seconds, turning the heat down to moderate if the oil begins to smoke.

    2. Add the chili peppers, stir-fry for a minute, and then scoop them out with a slotted spoon and set them aside in a small dish. Pour the remaining 3 tablespoons of the oil into the pan, heat for 30 seconds and add the ginger.

    3. Stir for a few seconds and drop in the chicken mixture. Stir-fry over moderate heat for 1 or 2 minutes, or until the chicken turns firm and white. Stir in the chili peppers and cook only long enough about 10 seconds-to heat the peppers through.

    4. Give the cornstarch mixture a quick stir to recombine it and pour it in the pan. Cook for a few seconds, stirring constantly, until all the ingredients are coated with a light, clear glaze.

    5. Immediately transfer the entire contents of the pan to a heated platter, and serve at once with the pine nuts sprinkled on top as a garnish and the lettuce leaves arranged attractively on another plate as wrappers for the chicken mixture.

    6. To eat, each guest picks up a lettuce leaf in one hand or lays it flat on a plate. About 2 tablespoonfuls of the chicken mixture are then placed in the center of the leaf and the leaf is folded in half, enclosing the chicken within it. The lettuce is rolled into a loose cylinder that can be held in the fingers and eaten.
    		 
    		 
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