For the past few days, I was looking forward to Kung Pao Chicken. I’ve never had it before in my life, but trying a mild version of it was something I would do. Panda Express serves Kung Pao Chicken, but I never tried it due to the spiciness warning. I don’t do good with spicy food, so just a bit of strong spiciness can be too much. Nevertheless, this article will cover that dish this time. Recipes for Kung Pao Chicken, Crab Rangoons, and Egg Rolls will be linked at the bottom of this article.
The first thing my mother did was prepare the rice. She boiled white rice on a stove while she chopped the vegetables. Cabbage, bell peppers, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and zucchini can all be seen on the cookie sheet. They were used for the egg rolls and Kung Pao Chicken.
Some of the vegetables were cooked in a pan, but they were still too big overall, especially the cabbage. With that, my mother chose to chop them into smaller pieces. After that, my mother started preparing the egg rolls. She used Frieda’s Egg Roll Wrappers, which you can find in a store near the vegetables and other produce. The vegetables were stuffed on one side of the wrapper before folding. You probably can’t imagine the folding, but searching up how to fold egg rolls is a good start.
After folding enough egg rolls, she started making the crab rangoons. The filling was made first, with the crabmeat, cream cheese, sugar, and green onions all going into it. She let me taste the filling, and I thought the filling tasted good. Then she used Frieda’s Wonton Wrappers, which you can find along with the Egg Roll Wrappers. They were filled, folded, and placed along with the egg rolls.
Soon after, egg rolls were cooked in a pot. Turned out rolling one of them over made it bust. Then came the crab rangoons. Turns out there were a few unfilled fried wonton pieces too. When they were finished, I had to get a picture of them. Of course I wasn’t going to take something from that plate just yet.
The last big step was fixing the Kung Pao Chicken. Obviously you should marinate the chicken ahead of time. Possibly a day ahead, but marinate for at least 30 minutes if in a time crunch. We were in a time crunch, so my mother did the latter and cut the chicken into small pieces before putting them in a pan. After the chicken pieces cooked through, they were put in a separate bowl, and the rest of the vegetables were cooked in the same pan. The carrots cooked fast and the cabbage took the longest. Nevertheless, the chicken pieces were put back in once the vegetables were cooked. Them came the last thing, which was the sauce made for the Kung Pao Chicken. That was poured into the pan before simmering for a few minutes. And oh my god, when I said it looked appetizing, I meant that. Who knew that home cooking can look so fantabulous? That looks like it came from a fancy restaurant, and without paying much for it too! You don’t have to take my word for it. Look at the pan for yourself! Even my plate made it look like I was ready for the big feast.
The rice wasn’t fried this time. The Kung Pao Chicken was placed on top of the white rice. Let me just cut to the chase and tell you that the whole meal was so delicious! Like, I want to eat that again. The zucchini was satisfying, the flavor was really good, and I was full after I had my seconds. I couldn’t be satisfied with just one serving. My mother thought the crab rangoons tasted fishy, but then again, she isn’t into a lot of seafood anyway. I, on the other hand, enjoyed them and every other part of the meal. One tip I would give is to dip your crab rangoons into sweet and sour sauce. Because oh my word, that is SO good! Also, you can make your own duck sauce or use packets of duck sauce from a Chinese restaurant for the egg rolls. Feel free to find duck sauce recipes in your own time if you want it homemade. Though one note is when making the egg rolls, my mother doesn’t recommend having red cabbage in the filling. It makes it less appealing, and she liked the egg rolls better without that. If you want to use red cabbage, go ahead. Otherwise, just stick to using fresh green cabbage.
The best thing is that this dinner didn’t cost as much as it would have at a regular restaurant. There’s still leftover Kung Pao Chicken to reheat and crab rangoons and egg rolls left to cook. At a restaurant, you would’ve paid more money for less food. Now I love to eat out for numerous reasons, but eating at home has its perks.
Link to Kung Pao Chicken recipe: https://diethood.com/easy-kung-pao-chicken-recipe/
Link to Crab Rangoons recipe: https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/easy-crab-rangoon/
Link to Egg Rolls recipe: https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/homemade-egg-rolls/
