Chinese food is very popular in Japan, and I felt I had a good grasp of their cuisine.
So when I came to the U.S. and found a lot of dishes on many Chinese restaurant’s menus that were not familiar to me, I was shocked.
Kung Pao Chicken was one of them.
I never had the dish in Japan, but it quickly became one of my favorites.
I’m always looking for a fun product to try.
I found this vegan soy meat at the Asian grocery store, and I thought this would be a good “meat” to be used for Kung Pao as “chicken.”
The instructions on the package tell you to soak them in water for 30 minutes to make them soft, but they were far from “soft” after being soaked for more than 45 minutes.
Eventually, I cooked them in boiling water for 5 minutes or so.
Next time I will definitely boil them to avoid wasting time.
The “meat” browned well, and the texture was pretty good.
I think coating with strong sauce is the key when it comes to soy meat, and this dish worked well.