Kung Pao Chicken

1. Combine the sake or rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and cornflour dissolved in water. Divide mixture in half.
2. In a glass dish or bowl, combine half of the sake mixture with the chicken pieces and toss to coat. Cover dish and place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
   30 minutes
3. In a medium frying pan, combine remaining sake mixture, chillies, vinegar and sugar. Mix together and add spring onion, garlic, water chestnuts and peanuts. Heat sauce slowly over medium heat until aromatic.
4. Meanwhile, remove chicken from marinade and sauté in a large frying pan until juices run clear. When sauce is aromatic, add sautéed chicken and let simmer together until sauce thickens.

Cooking notes

When scaling protein-led dishes, weigh the meat rather than counting pieces, and remember that the pan size limits how much you can sear at once.

For volume-to-weight conversions of any ingredient — flour, sugar, butter, salts — use the ingredient converter. To translate the recipe's oven temperature between °C, °F and gas mark, see the temperature converter.

When you scale this recipe up or down, remember that cooking time does not scale linearly. A doubled cake takes longer, but not twice as long; a doubled soup takes roughly twice as long. The cooking-time guide gives sensible starting estimates by dish geometry.