Three Crunches (Chicken and Cabbage Szechuan Style)

Jeremy's blogging again while Handan's away. :-)  

I get to cook whatever I want... and that means something spicy with peanuts!  This is a recipe I made up myself.  I started out attempting to duplicate a dish I remember from a Chinese restaurant in Arlington VA in the 70s that my family would go to sometimes.  The thing I remember about the dish is that it was made up of very small pieces of food, it had a lot of texture and it was spicy.  After some trial and error I came up with this recipe which I call "Three Crunches".  The three crunches are cabbage, water chestnuts and peanuts.

The Sauce

3 Tbls water

3 Tbls soy sauce

1 Tls sugar

1.5 tsp corn starch

1 tsp Chinese cooking wine

2 tsp rice vinegar

2 tsp chili paste (to taste... more or less)

mix to make sauce

The Ingredients

1 chicken breast chopped

1 small head of white cabbage, chopped (approx. 3-4 cups)

1 cup chopped water chestnuts

1 cup peanuts

5-7 cloves garlic, chopped

4-5 green onions, sliced thin

dried red chili peppers (optional)

3-4 Tbls oil

Preparation

1. Heat wok and add peanuts.  Toast in wok until fragrant and then remove.
2. Add oil to the hot wok.  When oil is hot add the garlic and dried chili peppers and stir-fry until fragrant.
3. Add chicken and stir-fry until nearly cooked.
4. Add the water chestnuts and peanuts and cook for another two minutes.
5. Add the cabbage and sauce and cook another 3-5 minutes until cabbage is cooked but not soft.
6. Add green onion and cook another minute.

Serve in a bowl, optionally with rice.