Szechuan Chicken Tacos

I had been eyeing the Kung Pao Chicken Tacos featured in Cooking Light recently, and was planning to try making them eventually.   Today, I had a serious craving for spicy Asian, so it seemed the perfect time to try making this food truck inspired taco recipe.  I looked at the photos and recipe, to see what I needed to pick up at the market to make it happen, and decided some changes were in order, to satisfy my personal immediate craving.  Celery… no thanks, I like it, but I’m kicking it out of my tacos.  I also pondered adding lettuce or something for that cool contrasting crunch I adore so, in traditional tacos.  I would solve that dilemma at the market, knowing some frisky piece of produce would say, “hey lady over here, pick me”.

At the market, I grabbed a red pepper, sweet onion & scallions.  This dish was metamorphosing into Szechuan Chicken tacos… similar, yes, but a different branch of the species.  I gazed at the available lettuces & greens,  comparing the pros & cons of each option.  The more I looked, the more I started to want coleslaw, but that just didn’t seem quite right.  I must have been quite the site, standing there staring at the veggies like I was in some sort of a produce museum.  Then the Savoy cabbage said “Hey, lady” … and it all pieced together.  An Asian slaw from the lighter textured Savoy would do the trick.  I would even toss the peanuts in with it.  Oh, yeah!  I headed home with my fresh supplies.

Enough, of my inane ramblings, here is the resulting recipe….

5.0 from 5 reviews

Szechuan Chicken Tacos

 

Author: Robin Gagnon

Recipe type: Entree

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  15 mins

Total time:  35 mins

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Ingredients

• ¾ – 1 lb of chicken breast
• 2 tbs. cornstarch
• 1 tbs. canola oil
• 1 cup sliced sweet red pepper
• 1 cup chopped sweet onion
• ¼ cup thinly sliced scallion
• 2 dozen corn tortillas

Asian Slaw

• 2½ cups shredded Savoy cabbage (approx. ½ a head)
• 1 tbs. rice wine vinegar
• ¼ tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• ½ tsp low sodium soy sauce (I use gluten-free)
• 1 tsp. fresh lime juice
• ⅓ cup unsalted or lightly-salted peanuts (I used cocktail peanuts)

Szechuan Sauce

• ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1½ tbs. fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
• 3 tbs. rice wine vinegar
• 3 tbs. light brown sugar
• 1 tbs sambal oelek (chili paste)
• 1 tsp sriracha hot chili sauce
• 1 clove of garlic (crushed minced)
• ½ tsp sesame oil

Instructions

1. Toss together the ingredients for the slaw, and set aside.
2. Whisk together the sauce ingredients and set aside, as well.
3. Cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces add cornstarch, and toss to coat the chunks.
4. Put canola oil in large wok or skillet over med-high heat, once it is hot add the peppers & onions. Stir fry for a minute.
5. Add the chicken, and stir fry until cooked through.
6. Add the sauce, stir over heat until sauce is thickened and chicken is glazed. Remove from heat & toss in scallions.
7. Place corn tortillas under broiler, when a light char starts, flip them and very lightly char other side. Remove and gently fold over while hot & fill with slaw and stir fried chicken.

Notes

With gluten-free soy sauce & corn tortillas this is a gluten-free recipe. If that is not a concern, standard reduced sodium soy sauce is fine & flour tortillas would be an acceptable substitute for corn (the dish would be more like Mooshi then).

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