"Threshold of Pain" Kung Pao Chicken

Title: "Threshold of Pain" Kung Pao Chicken
Yield: 4 Servings
Categories: Poultry 

Ingredients: 

      1 lb Boneless chicken breast (I
           -actually like thighs in
           -this; too), cubed
    1/2 c  Whole Chinese hot dried red
           -peppers; stemmed
    1/2 c  Roasted peanuts
      1 tb Fresh ginger; crushed and
           -minced
      1 tb Fresh garlic; crushed and
           -minced


----------------------------------MARINADE----------------------------------
  1 1/2 tb Cornstarch
      1 tb Cold water
      1 tb Soy sauce

-----------------------------------SAUCE-----------------------------------
      2 tb Soy sauce
      1 tb Mirin (rice wine)
      1 tb Sesame oil
      1 ts Sugar
      1 ts Cornstarch
      1 ts White vinegar
           Peanut oil for frying

----------------------------------GARNISH----------------------------------
      4    Scallions; sliced into rings
      2    Fresh red -and-
      2    Green hot "finger" chiles
           -(e.g. long Thai); sliced
           -into rings
 
  Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 13:09:00 -0400 (EDT)
  
  From: Larry Hunter 
  About 15 years ago, the first restaurant with genuinely spicy food arrived
  in lovely New Haven, CT (where I was going to college).  It was officially
  called "Threshold", although we all called it "Threshold of Pain".  They
  sold Schezwan food at 1 through 5 "alarms". When you ordered Kung Pao
  chicken at 5 alarm (which I did often), there were more chiles than peanuts
  in the dish. Unfortunately, the restaurant folded in less than a year.
  
  Here's an attempt to recreate that 5 alarm recipe.  It needs to be scaled
  up to restaurant portions, but it's not a difficult dish. You can reduce
  the amount of dried chile to reduce the heat level to mainstream levels if
  absolutely necessary.
  
  Make the marinade: Mix all ingredients and stir to dissolve cornstarch. Add
  chicken and marinate 30 minutes or longer.  Mix sauce and set aside.  Heat
  a bit peanut oil in the wok until just shy of smoking. Add chicken and stir
  fry until it is cooked and turns white. Remove and set aside. Add more oil
  to the wok, and reheat until almost smoking. Stir fry red peppers until
  they are crisp and start to turn black. Add ginger and garlic and stir fry
  for about 10 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the sauce, stirring
  constantly until slightly thickened. Add the chicken and stir until tyhe
  chicken is heated through and the sauce is thick. Remove from heat and stir
  in the peanuts.
  
  Serve over white rice, garnished with chile and scallion slices.
  
  CHILE-HEADS DIGEST V3 #007
  
  From the Chile-Heads recipe list.  Downloaded from Glen's MM Recipe
  Archive, http://www.erols.com/hosey.