The Wise Choice: Kung Pao Chicken and Indonesian Rice

Recreated from Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

--I’ll have the Kung Pao chicken.
--Wise choice.

There’s a lot of incidental food in fiction – things that characters happen to be eating as part of the everyday – and then there’s Significant Food. I'd say the two most meaningful meals in Sylvain Neuvel’s Sleeping Giants are cinnamon buns (File No. 189) and Kung Pao chicken (File No. 230). The cinnamon buns are camaraderie on a plate, while the Kung Pao chicken is about taking heed. To declare my full cooperation, I’ve chosen to recreate the Kung Pao chicken. I’d serve it with Indonesian rice if I were you, just to be on the safe side.

--How big was the hand?
--6.9 meters, about twenty-three feet; though it seemed much larger for an eleven-year-old.

Lontong (compressed jasmine rice) is a sticky Indonesian rice dish that holds it shape when formed into, say, body parts. I served my Kung Pao chicken on a hand (more modestly proportioned than the one we first encounter in the Prologue) because it's the piece that sets all that follows in motion. It’s also a heavy-handed nod to the notion that some things are just out of our hands; like what happens when we don’t go to fetch the cinnamon buns.

Ingredients

• 400g jasmine rice
• 2 large chicken breasts
• ​2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp ground
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 3cm ginger, finely diced
• 4 spring onions, chopped
• 2 bell peppers (different colours), chopped
• 50g unsalted peanuts

For the marinade

• 3 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp soy sauce

To coat the marinated chicken

• 4 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp Scezhuan peppercorns, ground

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

To cook

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes (or ½ for a milder dish)
• ½ tsp Schezuan peppercorns, ground

A note for your tongue: Exceeding the recommended amount of Schezuan peppercorns may cause your mouth to go numb in a way that is interesting and not entirely pleasant.
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A note on the hand: Creating a mould took me about 20 minutes. Compressing the rice into the mould took an extra 3-5 minutes per serving. It’s time consuming but worthwhile. To reduce the pressure, you could cook and prepare hands of rice an hour or so before cooking the chicken. It’s still delicious at room temperature.  

To prepare in advance: make a mould for the rice (optional)

Cooking instructions:

1. Cube the chicken breasts and marinade in the Shaoxing wine and soy sauce for at least 15 minutes or until ready to fry at Step 5.  
2. In another bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients and set aside.
3. Weigh your rice in a measuring cup, noting where it reaches. Measure out double the volume of boiling water, transfer to a saucepan and return to the boil. Add the rice and return to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Remove and set aside.
4. Coat the marinated chicken in the cornstarch and ground Szechuan peppercorns (1 tsp for this part).
5. Heat the oil, chilli flakes and ½ tsp ground Szechuan peppercorns on a medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes (you want the oil to get hot but not burnt). Add the chicken and fry for 5 minutes, turning the chicken when necessary so none of the sides are left raw.
6. Add the garlic, ginger, spring onions, peppers and peanuts to the wok and stir fry for 5 minutes.  
7. Stir in the sauce you made at Step 2 and leave to cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
8. Mash the cooked jasmine rice with the back of a fork then transfer and compress into your pre-prepared mould.
9. Reheat the Kung Pao in the wok if necessary before serving over the rice.