Kung Pao Chicken

Hi food peeps. Tis the night before V-Day and I bet all of you have been busy today making some sinfully unhealthy dessert to indulge in tomorrow. But isn't that the best part of the holiday—okay the second best. Before we start the chocolate binge we had some simple Kung Pao the other night. This is a good, relatively quick meal to throw together. It didn't have quite as much flavor as Michael and I had hoped though. Perhaps it needed more garlic and maybe more soy sauce? We served it over jasmine rice, which we made while chopping the veggies. Modified from Cooking Light, serves four.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 cup snow peas, ends trimmed
• 2 tablespoons chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

Directions

1. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until softened. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds, stirring constantly. 
2. Add chicken; sauté 3 minutes or until chicken begins to brown.
3. In a small bowl, combine water, soy sauce, cornstarch, brown sugar, ginger and crushed red pepper, stirring with a whisk until sugar dissolves. 
4. Add water mixture to pan; bring to a boil. 
5. Add bell pepper and snow peas to pan; cook for 2 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender and sauce thickens. Sprinkle with nuts.