Kung pao chicken with peanuts and jasmine rice

Method

1. Rinse the rice in a sieve until the water runs almost clear, then drain. Put in a saucepan with 300 g water, bring to the boil, cover and cook over a very low heat for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes without lifting the lid: the grains should be tender and the water absorbed. While the rice cooks, complete all the preparation in steps 2 and 3 before searing the chicken.
2. Pat the chicken breasts dry with kitchen paper and cut into 1.5 cm cubes. Immediately mix in a bowl with 8 g light soya sauce, 5 g white wine and 20 g water, then 8 g cornflour, and finally 5 g oil. Marinate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes; do not add salt, as kosher chicken is already salted. Meanwhile, cut the spring onions into 2 cm lengths, separating the white and green parts. Thinly slice the garlic and peeled ginger. Cut the chillies into 2 cm lengths and shake out the seeds, then wash your hands. Put each ingredient in its own bowl.
3. In a bowl, mix 6 g cornflour with 40 g water until smooth, then add the 17 g light soya sauce, the dark soya sauce, 10 g white wine, sugar and black vinegar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Heat the dry wok over a medium heat and toast half the Sichuan pepper, 1 g, for 1 minute, until fragrant and barely smoking; crush in a mortar. Warm the peanuts in the dry wok for 1 minute, then set aside.
4. Heat the wok over a high heat until the first wisp of smoke appears, then add 12 g oil and spread half the chicken in a single layer. Leave untouched for 1 minute 30 seconds, then stir-fry for 1 minute: the cubes should be golden in places and almost cooked. Set aside with their juices and repeat with the other 12 g oil and remaining chicken. Let the wok heat up again between batches; the chicken should not boil in its own juices.
5. Lower the heat to medium and add 6 g oil, the chillies and the remaining whole Sichuan pepper. Stir for 20–30 seconds, until the chillies turn burgundy and the oil smells of toasted citrus; do not let the chillies blacken or the Sichuan pepper brown. Add the garlic, ginger and spring onion whites and stir for 30 seconds, until fragrant but not coloured.
6. Return the chicken and its juices, turn the heat up high, stir the sauce in its bowl, as the cornflour settles, and pour it around the sides of the wok. Stir-fry for 45 seconds to 1 minute, coating the chicken. The sauce should boil, thicken suddenly and coat each cube in a glossy film, leaving a shiny trail in the bottom of the wok without pooling. The chicken should be cooked: a cube cut in half should be white and juicy at the centre. If the sauce sets into a paste, loosen it with the reserved 15 g water.
7. Off the heat, fold in the peanuts, spring onion greens, sesame oil and toasted ground Sichuan pepper. Serve immediately over the rice. The chilli pieces flavour the dish but are not eaten; leave them at the edge of the plate.