Seasons Change

Mahalo for Reflecting with Captain Bobby Mitchel

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Wow! Kung Pao!

Wow! Kung Pao! ~~ with a twist, or should I say a fold?

Okay, we're not big red meat eaters, but we do love a great filet, when it's done right. If you are a chicken, however, you better hide. I would say that the recipes that we make-up and are coming together to form this book are simplified down to one word, FUSION. I've always liked coloring outside the lines in life and have not always blindly followed 'the norm.' I pride myself on learning the rules, knowing the rules, and bending the rules when necessary, without breaking them. It's called living life to the maximum possible and living each and every day of it. Without getting into too much detail, let me just say that my cooking experiences have taken on the same kind of philosophy. I have a lot of old, family recipes and have recreated them as best I could, but we have also experimented with bringing them into today's standard of nutrition. We've also worked with fusing some of our favorites, Italian and Local Hawaiian and Asian dishes.

Growing up in Hawaii as the youngest of 4 boys and always getting the 'you know what' beat out of me from them, I learned to adapt and adapt for pure survival's sake. Ha, my military survival and resistance training was a walk in the park for me compared to the tortures my brothers thought up. I also learned that eating for survival as the youngest of four boys took creativity too, because if you didn't act fast, you went hungry. Oh, both my parents were great cooks, but if they weren't around, life could get like a Discovery Channel show. I remember an instance where we had clam chowder and by the time it got to me, all I got was chowder as the clams were all ladled out. And I'll never forget the weekend as a kid that we spent in the cabins at Bellows AFS in Waimanalo, with no parents and just college friends of one of my brothers. Survival, baby! I distinctly remember we all ran out of food after day one and my parents had to re-stock us. I also learned to drive that weekend and met a new friend, Mickey…Mickey's big mouth. :)

So with that, I was always able to and had a unique knack for taking whatever was in our family's refrigerator and cabinets and make something of it. Yup, something out of nothing and doing fusion cooking at an early age, way before it ever became a cooking method like it is today.

Now, where does this lead me, you ask? Last week my wife made a baked enchilada casserole and thus we had a lot of leftover tortillas. Also, our local market had a sale on chicken with a buy one, get one free on the family packs so we had a lot of chicken too. After the enchiladas, I was in no mood for another Mexican dinner so the right brain part of me went into, "What can I do with what we have?"

We had the tortillas and chicken. Also in the refrigerator we had orange and red peppers, onions, lettuce, carrots, and celery. Okay, this is easy, right? Stir Fry! …but with a twist. How about an Asian Chicken Taco? Off to Google I went and low and behold, there it was, Kung Pao Chicken Tacos. Okay, I'm not the first to think of this again, but I bet I can make it better, and in my own way.

So, I had the idea, now it was time to use what we had and experiment and play with combos to make it work. I did this last week and it was a keeper! It was awesome. This week, I set out to try and re-create what I had made and change it up a bit to perfect it. I had my notes and I knew what I needed from the store. And it worked again, and even better this time. I don't know about the recipes on the web, but these babies rock! Onolicious to the max, brah!

I give to you, my version of Kung Pao Chicken Tacos, served here with steamed, sticky sushi rice, and steamed broccoli with Asian spices. Now, take a look at these and I will move onto the recipe and how I made this dish. Yes, talk story time is over for now, because I know you want the recipe and if you skipped the story to come to this point, Karma, baby, Karma. ;)

Kung Pao Chicken Tacos, Steamed Broccoli, and Sushi Rice

Sharp Knife and Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts 

INGREDIENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS

• 3 Pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast filets, cut into bite sized pieces (approximately 8 filets)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Cornstarch

Bite Sized Chicken Breast Pieces 

First, we need to start with the chicken breasts. Cut them into bite sized pieces and place them into an airtight container or vacuum sealer with the Soy Sauce. Let them marinate for 30 minutes to an hour, or while you are cutting the vegetables and measuring the wet ingredients. Next, remove them from the container and sprinkle with the salt and mix. 

Generously coat a portion of the chicken pieces (about a handful at a time) with cornstarch and then sift them vigorously in a strainer to shake off any excess cornstarch. You want them to be lightly dusted/coated on all sides. It's important to do this a little bit at a time or you will have a huge mess and large clump of sticky cornstarch chicken nuggets. Place the dusted pieces on a plate and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes, or until ready to stir fry them. If you have a giant, cornstarch nugget ball, sucks to be you…sorry.

Chicken Breast Pieces with Cornstarch Coating 

Now, measure out your sauce mixture ingredients. You don't have to put them in cool, little cups like I did below for the photos. Measure the Cornstarch, Honey, Sesame Seed Oil, Rice Vinegar, Hunan Red Chili Sauce, and Soy Sauce into a bowl. Vigorously whisk them until smooth and combined. While you are stir frying the vegetables below, microwave the sauce ingredients for about 2 minutes and stir in minced garlic.

Wet Sauce and Spice Ingredients 

SAUCE

• 4 ½ teaspoons Cornstarch
• 5 tablespoons Honey
• 3 tablespoons Sesame Seed Oil
• 6 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
• 3 teaspoons Hunan Red Chili Sauce
• 6 tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 4 cloves minced Garlic

Get your Sous Chef now! It's time to work and this will take a good 30 minutes to do while your chicken pieces are marinating. My Sous Chef was at work so I was on my own for this part and it was tedious, but well worth it in the end.

Dry Vegetable Ingredients 

VEGETABLES

• 1 ½ Cups chopped Carrots (Approximately 3 carrots)
• 1 Cup chopped Yellow Pepper (Approximately ½ Pepper)
• 1 Cup chopped Orange Pepper (Approximately ½ Pepper
• ¾ Cup chopped Red Pepper (Approximately ½ Pepper)
• 2 Cups chopped Celery (Approximately 6 stalks)
• ⅓ Cup sliced Green Onions (Approximately 2 stalks)
• ⅔ Cup chopped Sweet Maui Onion

Clean, cut, and chop all the vegetables above. Again the cool bowls aren't necessary but they do make life easy when it's time to heat up the wok and start cooking. Before we begin to cook, here are a few more ingredients to add to the list.

• 10 tablespoons fresh, chopped dry roasted peanuts
• 1 tablespoon butter



Sweated Chopped Sweet Maui Onion 

• ⅓ cup Canola Oil
• 1 head Fresh Butter Lettuce
• Whole Wheat Tortillas
• 2 limes
• Flat Leaf Parsley

Time to fire up that wok, baby! Get it on your best burner and turn it up to HIGH. We're not messing around here because it's time to stir fry and we're going to do it right. Add about 1 tablespoon of Canola Oil to the wok and introduce it to the chopped Maui Onion. 

Heat the onion until it begins to sweat and add the butter. Once they're translucent and before they brown, remove them and strain off the oil/butter liquid into a bowl. This is flavoring for our chicken when it cooks. The onions should look like the photo above.

Stir Fried Chicken Breast Pieces 

Now it's time to take the chicken for a wok. :) Do this in two portions so you can keep the pan hot and not have soggy chicken. Put half the chicken, half the oil/butter mixture and 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok and cook the chicken on high for about 5-8 minutes, until it is cooked with a nice, crispy brown shell. 

When the first batch is pau, let them drain on a plate with a paper towel while you re-heat the wok and cook the second batch. And, of course, here is what your chicken should look like. Already looking pretty ono, huh?

Okay, things should be happening pretty fast at this point. Yeah, your home smells yummy and you're probably working up a sweat too, huh? Keep hydrated! Wine is the best hydration tool while cooking, trust me. If your Sous Chef is helping you then things move along much mo-betta. Mine was home by now and she did the sauce at this point while I started the veggies. 

Begin Sautéing Vegetables 

Another tablespoon of oil into the wok and heat 'em up, brah. Now, in goes the whole group of veggies. Add the celery, carrots, red peppers, orange peppers, yellow peppers. Start woking (yeah, that's a word now) them until they are cooked, but still al dente.  You want them crisp in the final product. When you're getting close, add the green onions and sweated Maui onion. Cook for about 2 minutes.

During the last 2 minutes, heat up your sauce mixture in the microwave and mix it well. Now it's time to bring all your hard work together and finish this yummy dish.

To the veggies, add the warmed sauce, cooked and crispy chicken pieces, and chopped peanuts. Mix them all together and get everything combined into what looks like a wok full of 'Onolicious Yumminess.' How's that for an exact description?

Completed Kung Pao Chicken in the Wok

Here's a close-up of what you should have in your wok. Hopefully, you had an empty dishwasher as we went along or a helper or two. Remember, good preparation is a key. I had everything all measured and laid out, ready for the final few minutes of wok time. This is a great teamwork dish to do, as long as you have someone whom you get along with well in the kitchen. It's a fun dish to do together and you can do a lot of prep well ahead of cooking.

Time to grind! Using a warmed wheat tortilla, add a nice leaf of butter lettuce and then spoon the Kung Pao Chicken into the lettuce and fold like a taco. The lettuce holds in the sauce and keeps the tortilla from getting all soggy and falling apart. I guess you could skip the tortilla and just use the lettuce as the shell, but your dinner guest better be a good friend or luv'd one. In other words, not a first date sort of eating experience as it most likely will come apart as you eat it. Top the taco with some shreds of parsley.

So, here's the final product all plated and looking pretty.

I served this with some nice Asian spiced, steamed broccoli and steamed, sticky sushi rice. The lime was a garnish but I also squeezed one onto a taco and it was good.

By the way, I need to mention that this recipe is large. It will easily feed 8-10 people with 2 tacos each. I made it this way so we'd have extra to vacuum seal, freeze, and save for another time. A lot of work is involved with chopping vegetables, chicken, etc., so I made enough to not have to do this again for awhile. We have at least 2-3 more meals from this batch. You could easily halve everything in the recipe, if you so desire.

Oh, and yes, this recipe has a kick to it. It's not too hot, but will leave heat on your palate and lips as you work your way through a taco. If I had to, I'd call it medium. The Hunan Red Chili Sauce is what gives the heat so that can be adjusted, if necessary. I think this amount is perfect.

Wow! There you have it, Kung Pau Chicken Tacos, my way. We found this recipe to be a keeper for us and have added it to the collection. All in all, it's quite healthy and oh, so ono! I hope you've enjoyed my play by play in making it and please, let me know if you try it, like it or not, or change it up a bit. 

Mahalo for Cooking with Captain Bobby Mitchel

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Paradise Found

Mahalo for diving with Captain Bobby Mitchel

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