The Sensational Kung-pao Potatoes

By now, you all know about my obsession with the Chinese food. So, most of the weekends, it is a safe bet to presume that for dinner, we will be having the fried-rice or the noodles, along with a spicy, tangy chinese stir-fry.

9 times out of ten, the star of these stir-fries is chicken, but the past ten days we were on a strict vegetarian diet because of an on-going Indian festival that we were celebrating at home. So we were off all meats…even eggs!

In the past, I have tried making these stir-fries with everything possible for hubbyji to enjoy it, in case chicken was not available. I tried crispy baby-corn, I tried making Chilly-Paneer (A popular Indo-chinese dish made with Indian cottage-cheese), but he stayed unimpressed. Then last week, it hit me out of the blue…..POTATOES!!

Hubby is a huge fan of potatoes and I knew that I can never go wrong with him and this vegetable. Even though I had never tried making a Chinese dish with potatoes before, I figured that it will work pretty well. So, I decided to try making a veggie version of Kung-pao chicken with crispy, fried potatoes & roasted peanuts….. and SCORE!! It was a jackpot!

We enjoyed it with steaming hot fried-rice, while enjoying a movie on Netflix on a Saturday night. It was a perfect evening!

Give this sensational recipe a go guys, and have a grrreat weekend!

Ingredients:

– 2 medium-sized Potatoes

– 1 bunch of Scallions, finely chopped (the white and the greens)

– 1 onion, cut into cubes

– 1 bell pepper, cut into cubes

– 2 cloves of Garlic, peeled and chopped

– 1 tbsn roasted and peeled peanuts

– 1 tbsn cornflour

– 1 cup Vegetable stock

– 1 tbsn Soy sauce

– 1 tbsn tomato ketchup

– 1 tbsn vinegar

– 1 tbsn chilly sauce

– 2 tbsn olive oil

– 1 tsp sugar

– Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

– Start by peeling the potatoes and cutting them into wedges.

– Next, par-boil your potato wedges, for around 3 minutes. Drain on a kitchen towel and pat-dry completely. Set aside. If you wish, you can sprinkle a bit of cornflour on them and shuffle, so that they do not stick with each other.

– In a wok or a sauce-pan, heat the oil.

– Shallow fry your potato wedges on medium high flame till they are crisp and golden-brown. Drain on a kitchen towel and set aside.

– In the same oil, add the chopped garlic.

– Next, add in the chopped scallion whites and fry for around 1-2 minutes.

– Throw in your cubed onions and capsicum and fry them on a medium-high flame for around 1-2 minutes, till they get a bit translucent in color. We want them to be still crunchy and about half-cooked.

– Add all your sauces along with the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Be VERY CAREFUL while adding the salt because the sauces will contain salt too.

– Add the peanuts and  fry for a few seconds.

– Pour in your vegetable stock and mix everything well.

– In a cup, make a mixture of 1 tbsn cornflour and 1/2 cup of water. Mix well and pour into your simmering sauce little by little, while stirring constantly. You will see that your sauce will instantly thicken up and turn silky.

– Finally, throw in your beautiful crisp potatoes into the gravy and mix well to combine everything together.

– Pour into a bowl, garnish with finely chopped scallion greens and serve immediately. Enjoy!

*Notes:

– Add your potatoes to hot sauce JUST BEFORE serving them! Do not add them beforehand as they will get soft and mushy.

– You can substitute the vegetable stock with water but I strongly recommend using the stock for more flavor.

– Food being over salty is the most common mistake that you can do in Asian cooking, where various sauces are involved. I often add the salt at the end after tasting the resulting sauce, just to be on the safer side.