Kung Pao Chicken is a famous Sichuan dish in China with , chicken, peanuts, and hot pepper as the ingredients. In the dish, peanuts taste crisp, chicken tender, and the overall flavor is sour and sweet and a bit spicy. Not only the Chinese but also the foreigners enjoy it. However as to the history of the dish, not many people can give the right answer.
It is said that there was an official named Ding Baozhen in the Qing Dynasty, who was once the successful candidate in the highest imperialexamination during the reign of Emperor Xianfeng.. He was appointed as the grand coordinator of Shandong province and then the governor-general of Sichuan province.. He always enjoyed fried dishes with pork or chicken and hot peppers. When he was in Shandong, he asked his cook to fry chicken in bean sauce, which is also a popular dish in China now. The dish was quite to his taste but the recipe was not widespread at that time. After he was transferred to the post in Sichuan, he always served a delicious dish of chicken cubes fried with chili and peanuts to his guests at home, which was much loved by all. Not long after, as he performed brilliant exploits in guarding the border and fighting the enemy, he was conferred the title of "太子少保 (Taizi Shaobao)" by the imperial court, and people then called him "Ding Kungpao". Therefore, the dish created by him was named "宫保鸡丁(Kung Pao Chicken)" accordingly. Shortly after his death, Kung Pao Chicken was recommended as a tribute to the emperor. From then on, it gradually became one of the most famous Chinese dishes in the world.