Guillermo From Mexico
I loved the flavors , but I decided to add the green part of the scallion at the end to get a herbal flavor and a crispy texture. I also roasted the peanut because I think it gave the dish a smoky taste.  I invited some friends and they really liked the combination of ingredients. We had rice and stir fry vegetables with the chicken. It was a wonderful dinner.

TRACY  from England Now Living In Chengdu	The ingredients
My first photo shows the ingredients for my Gong Bao Ji, but unfortunately this attempt wasn't a success. Ironically, given that I'm living in Chengdu, I couldn't find all the ingredients I needed. I just couldn't identify certain things in the supermarket, like rice wine or cornflour, so I had to improvise, and used a sweetish sauce instead of the rice wine. I cooked it for my husband as I was going out that evening. He sent me a text saying it was 'disgusting' which I thought was hilarious. I think there were too many sichuan peppercorns in it and it was overpowering. We've eaten Gong Bao Ji a lot since we moved to Chengdu. It's our 'safe' option at the moment while we get to know the food, so it we order something we don't like at least we'll like that. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see if I get a better review after I find out how to make it properly!

Cecilia From France
My dried chilies are very strong, so i just added half the amount needed, still, I had my tongue out half the night, and my french friend all night.  She really enjoyed it though. I wonder what kind of chinese vinegar  should be used,  I only had taiwanese vinegar and found the vinegar taste in the dish a little too prominent.  And the lighter color of the dish may also be caused by that.

BARRY   From Australia
I did not follow the recipe in detail as I was short on a few ingredients. Even so, the dish still looked ok and the taste was great. My wife gave her approval even though it had some extra dried chillies in it. The peanuts were roasted in the wok with skins on and it was a tedious task removing them after they had cooled sufficiently to handle, but well worth the approach as when served in the dish they retained their crisp crunchy texture. I also omitted the MSG and added 1 tsp of sweet sauce. Apart from these alterations I followed the recipe as presented.

FELIX from Switzerland now living in China	The Ingredients	The Chef

CHRIS from Maruritius

Laura from England	Ingredients	Cutting the Chicken Breasts

Felix from Switzerland	I used the breasts of Bresse chicken which gave a very good taste and consistency	Assembling the ingredients - I used the rest of the chicken for other Chinese recipes
I think the oil was too hot, so when I added the Chili, it did not develop its full flavor	Looks lovely	The meal included a Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett Riesling 1992 by Willy Haag - a perfect match.

LUCY & BRYCE from Australia   but who spend most of their time in the Mediterranean sea, as they work in the yacht industry	The ingredients
Bryce at work	Looks like they left th chili slices large with the thin scallion it makes a beautiful presentation	Lucy offering a feast... I'm hungry!

TOM from Portland, Oregon USA

I use raw peanuts-blanched for a minute, then shallow-fried until golden.

Served with a side of cucumber salad dressed with light soy, rice vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil.

Mandy and Chris from Hong Kong and France depending on the season	We used lamb instead of chicken
After tasting, we would realized it would be better with more Sichuan pepper		The chefs in Hong Kong !
We invited our neighbors to join us	Looks like she enjoyed the meal	Full and exhausted after dinner !

Alison, Charles and Alex who will be coming as part of a family group   from Chicago USA
		We took the traditional Institute recipe, eliminated the MSG, reduced the sugar, and garnished the dish with baby cilantro grown by Alison in our garden. We served the Chicken with steamed and dressed green beans, salad and rice.

Burckhardt - from GERMANY

Daniela - from BRAZIL

Elly  - From CANADA

Esther - from THE UNITED STATES

Esther prepared her recipe using SEITAN thus a vegetarian version. Seitan is a wheat gluten food made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch dissolves, leaving insoluble gluten as an elastic mass which is then cooked before being eaten.

Jeremy  - from ENGLAND

with a side dish of bok choy

Patrick - From Canada
		For sure... there were some very lucky families that got to taste GONG BAO JI.   We are certain they are anxiously awaiting many more Sichuan meals once our participants come home from the two week cooking school experience!