KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — A few months ago, I realized that I was always running out of funds before the end of the month. I decided to track my spending and realised that I spent a bomb every month on food alone! 

It’s not that I wine and dine every day. Food in general has become increasingly expensive and I didn’t even realise it.

Determined to have at least a reasonable amount of savings every month, I resorted to cooking more meals at home.

The first dish I decided to master was kung pao chicken, also known as dried chili chicken. I love it because it’s flavourful and full of protein.

Also, it’s a favourite in Chinese households so it could be something I can impress my future mother-in-law with. After searching for the right recipe online, I went shopping at a nearby market for the ingredients.

I worked out a budget of RM100 spent on ingredients per week on the basis that I cooked every day! What a far cry from the hundreds I spend every week eating out.

I’m not sure if my kung pao chicken would taste as good as the one dished out at the neighbourhood dai chow but I was impressed by the amount of savings.

My favourite part of the chicken is the breast so I got two pieces for my recipe. I didn’t have black vinegar at home so I tweaked the online recipe a little to accommodate the ingredients I had at home.

At the first try, the chicken didn’t taste half bad. In fact, it was rather delicious except that I would have preferred more sauce with it.

So the next time I made it, I doubled the amount of sauce.

What can I say? I like things saucy.

Kung pao chicken

Ingredients:

2 boneless & skinless chicken breasts 3 tablespoons cooking oil 5 slices peeled fresh ginger 2 cloves garlic (chopped) 8-12 dried red chillies A handful of toasted cashew nuts 1 stalk scallion (chopped)

(From left) Ingredients for the marinade. Ingredients for a serving of kung pao chicken. Marinate the chicken with the marinade recipe

For the marinade:

1 tablespoon corn starch 2 teaspoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine 1 teaspoon oil

For the sauce:

1 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce 1 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons water 1 teaspoon corn starch

(From left) Remember to chop up the scallions, ginger and garlic. Stir fry the garlic and ginger. Cook the chicken first before putting everything together

Method:

1. Cut the chicken meat into small cubes, rinse in water, pat dry with paper towels and marinate with the ingredients above for 30 minutes.

2. Mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Heat up a wok with one tablespoon cooking oil and stir-fry the marinated chicken until it is about 70% cook. Dish out and set aside.

4. Clean the wok and add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of cooking oil until it smokes.

(From left) Add in the dried chili for a kick. Sauce for kung pao chicken. Combine everything together and fry

5. Add in the ginger and garlic; do a quick stir before adding in the dried red chillies.

6. Stir fry the dried red chilies until aromatic and they smell spicy, then add in the chicken meat.

7. Do a quick stir before adding in the cashew nuts and continue to stir a few times.

8. Add in the sauce and stir continuously until the chicken meat is nicely coated with the sauce.

9. Add in the scallions and stir evenly.

10. Dish out and serve hot with steamed white rice.