Tony ZentgrafFor many people, the thought of Kung Pao brings to mind hot dried chilies added to a chicken or shrimp dish with peanuts. But this sauce doesn’t have any spice added to the sauce.
Versatile Sauce
You can add dried chilies or chili flakes to the wok or pan when you are sauteing garlic, this allows the oils in the chiles to be released. Then proceed with assembling the dish. See the Kung Pao Shrimp recipe for more details.
This sauce is a good base for different dishes such as Kung Pao, Fried Rice, Chow Mein, or other favorite stir fried dishes you usually make. Add garlic, ginger, chili flakes or dried chilies to impart different flavors in the sauce as you cook to develop a different flavor profile.
For a Twist
For a Thai twist, add garlic, ginger, lemongrass, a few dashes fish sauce, a few slices of thai chilies, & scallions to the sauce and use it as a marinade. Be generous with the above ingredients in the marinade, and let sit overnight to get a good marinade on the on steak or chicken.
I recommend grilling the meat after the marinade, the sugars in the sauce to caramelize. You can broil to get some char as well. Marinated meat can be sliced across the grain to use in a stir fry.
Enjoy!
Kung Pao Sauce
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- ½ cup Soy Sauce (Kikkoman)
- ½ cup Chicken Stock (or Vegetable)
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce (Lee Kum Kee)
- 2 tbsp Michiu Wine (can substitute dry sherry)
- 2 tbsp White Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Mushroom Soy Sauce (can substitute dark soy sauce) Cornstarch Slurry as needed if wanting to thicken the sauce
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the oyster sauce and sugar.
- Heat the Chicken Stock and add to the sugar and oyster sauce so they dissolve.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine.
- Can be refrigerated for later use or use immediately.
Notes
- This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups of sauce.
- Serving size is an estimate on how much you are using for your recipe.
- The sauce can be increased and saved for later use in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
- Use for Kung Pao Shrimp or Chicken, Fried Rice, Chow Mein Noodles, Dan Dan Noodles or other stir fry dishes.
- Sauce can be thickened with cornstarch when cooking to glaze the final dish.
- I recommend using the ingredients as listed. If needing to switch out ingredients, the substitutions may vary the flavor of the sauce .
- Example dark soy is sweeter than mushroom soy so sauce may be sweeter than the original recipe. You can omit an ingredient but the flavor will vary as well.
