One of the most famous Chinese dishes and a perennial foreigner favorite is Kung Pao Chicken (gongbao jiding). This dish first became popular in Sichuan and its legendary origin is a good example of the willingness of Chinese chefs to improvise. However, this tendency sometimes leads to unfortunate dishes like a concoction currently popular in Beijing known as 'deep fried ice-cream on toast'. Gongbaojiding is one of the good ones though.

Ding Baozhen served under the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) Emperor Xianfeng as the governor of Shandong province. One day he arrived home with a group of friends, but his cook hadn't prepared for guests, and had but a meager chicken breast and some vegetables in the kitchen. The cook diced the chicken into tiny bits, and fried it up with cucumber, peanuts, dried red peppers, sugar, onion, garlic, bits of ginger - sundry ingredients that had been lying around the bottom of the cupboard.

Ding Baozhen and his guests really enjoyed the improvised meal, so much so that it became a regular item on the menu. Eventually, Ding Baozhen was promoted to Governor General of Sichuan province. His cook w ent with him to Sichuan where he began experimenting with the local produce, including hot broad bean sauce and Sichuan chili peppers. Soon the humble chicken dish was all the rage in the province. The people honored Ding Baoz

hen by naming the dish after his official name, Gongbao. (His surname 'Ding' has nothing to with the "ding" in gongbaojiding which simply means cube or piece.) The moral of this story is that if you work hard at your craft , like Ding Baozhen's chef, one day a dish will be named after your boss.

Ingredients:

300 grams chicken breasts cut into 1.5crr

cubes;

50 grams peanuts

20 grams dry red chili peppers, cut intc

1.5cm sections

2 grams Chinese prickly ash

1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with water

2 grams sliced ??ginger

2 grams diced garlic

2 grams scallions

Sauce:

10 grams soy sauce

10 grams vinegar

15 grams sugar

10 grams Chinese cooking wine

1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with water

Mix chicken cubes with soy sauce, salt and cooking wine. Add 1 tablespoon wet starch and mix. Make the sauce by mixing soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and the other tablespoon of wet starch in clear stock Soak the peanuts in warm water for a while. Remove the skin, and

drain. Stir-fry over a low fire until crisp. Put aside for later use.

Heat cooking oil in a wok over a high flame until hot. Add chili peppers and Chinese prickly ash and fry until golden brown. Add chicken

cubes and stir to prevent from sticking together. Add ginger , garlic and scallions and stir. Pour in the sauce and blend w

ell. Add fried peanuts and stir. Remove to a plate and serve.