Kung Pao Pastrami (A Mission Chinese Recipe)

Since our last visit to Mission Chinese Food restaurant in New York, my husband and I couldn’t stop talking about the food there. If you have never heard of the place, it is a “new-age Chinese restaurant” where the chefs bring you an authentic Chinese dining experience with nontraditional ingredients used in Japan, Philippines, and Spain etc.

You’ll see very familiar dishes on the menu: ribs, wings, fried chicken, brisket, bacon, and ice cream. However, if you take a bite into the famous Chongqing chicken wings, the fierce and numbing spicy sensation brings you straight to China.

Famous food critic Angela Dimayuga called the food “New American food”. Meanwhile, the restaurant was listed as “New York’s hottest Sichuan restaurant” by CNN.

Is the food in Mission Chinese real-deal Chinese food or American food?

Well, the judgement is totally up to you!

Kung Pao Pastrami

The Kung Pao Pastrami from Mission Chinese is one of our favorites.

The flavor profile of the dish stays true to the authentic Sichuan food—spicy and numbing savory umami that is quite pungent. The ingredients lie to the American side—celery, pastrami, and potatoes. You won’t find any of these ingredients in a traditional Kung Pao dish. Yet, when I send a spoonful of pastrami with tender potatoes into my mouth, the flavor was addictive and the combo makes perfect sense!

Today I want to share this unique Chinese American dish with you. The recipe is slightly adapted from The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook, by the restaurant owner Danny Bowien and famous food writer Chris Ying. I’ve shortened the cooking process and replaced a few ingredients, so the dish is more practical to cook in your home kitchen.

According to the author, in an ideal world you should smoke your own pastrami or purchase great pastrami from a store. I do not have this luxury and used normal deli pastrami instead. The cooked meat did not taste as tender as the one we had in the restaurant, but the dish was an excellent one nonetheless.

Kung Pao Pastrami is quite easy to make compared to the classic Kung Pao Chicken, because you can skip the marinating and pre-cooking process. You can totally serve it by itself, although a bowl of steamed rice is a plus.

If you are looking for a quick and flavorful dish that is loaded with comforting smoked meat, potato, and veggies, look no further!

More Delicious Sichuan recipes

• Kung Pao Shrimp
• Sichuan Mala Chicken
• 4-Ingredient Sichuan Crispy Beef
• Dan Dan Noodles

If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.

Kung Pao Pastrami (A Mission Chinese Recipe)

By Maggie Zhu

4.20 from 5 votes

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 3 to 4 servings

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Big chunks of pastrami, tender potato and crispy celery are tossed with tons of chili peppers, garlic and Sichuan peppercorns. A new-age Chinese dish that is made with authentic spices and comforting American ingredients. Extra hot and addictive, you won’t say no to this if you’re into spicy food. The recipe is slightly adapted from The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook.

Ingredients 

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 small Russet potato , cut into 1/8-inch pieces
• 360 grams (12 ounces) deli pastrami , cut into 1-inch pieces (*Footnote 1)
• 3 celery stalks , sliced
• 4 green onions , sliced, green and white parts separated
• 1 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns
• 12 dried mild chili peppers such as Bullet Head chili peppers
• 3 garlic cloves , minced
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chili flakes from Homemade Chili Oil (*Footnote 2)
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (*Footnote 3)
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup bell peppers , sliced
• 1/2 cup peanuts , roasted
• Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (Optional)

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Instructions

• Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add potato and stir a few times to coat evenly with oil. Add 1/4 cup water and cover immediately. Steam for 1 minute, or until the potato just starts to get tender. Transfer to a plate.
• Add 1 tablespoon of oil into the same pan. Spread pastrami with minimum overlapping. Let cook without touching until the bottom side turns golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip and cook the other side until golden brown, about 1 minute. Turn to medium heat if the pan gets too hot.
• Add the rest of the oil, celery, the white part of the green onion, Sichuan peppercorns, and chili peppers. Cook and stir for a minute, until the chili peppers turn dark brown, but not burned. Add the garlic and stir a few times.
• Add the cooked potato. Stir for a minute, or until the potatoes are cooked but still crunchy.
• Add the chili flakes/crisp, soy sauce and stock. Bring to a boil. Add back the pastrami, bell peppers, the green part of the green onion, and peanuts. Stir a few times to mix well. Transfer to a plate immediately.
• Garnish with sesame seeds and serve hot as main.

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Notes

1. The original cookbook said cut the pastrami to 1/2-inch cubes, so the pastrami won’t fall apart easily. I cannot get my pastrami sliced in thick pieces at my grocery store, hence the thinner slices.
2. If you happen to have Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp (The Godmother Brand), use it instead of the chili flakes.
3. You can use regular soy sauce to replace light soy sauce. For a gluten free dish, use tamari to replace light soy sauce.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving of the 4 servings, Calories: 383kcal, Carbohydrates: 22.3g, Protein: 24g, Fat: 23.8g, Cholesterol: 40mg, Sodium: 1149mg, Potassium: 786mg, Fiber: 3.6g, Sugar: 3.4g

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