Gong Bao Chicken With Peanuts From "Every Grain of Rice" By Deborah Acosta Recipe Lab, a monthly feature, invites you to cook with the Dining section. Try the recipe below, from Fuchsia Dunlop's cookbook "Every Grain of Rice," then join us for a live video chat with Julia Moskin, Ms. Dunlop and fellow Dining readers on Monday, Sept. 23, 3 p.m. Eastern time, at nytimes.com/dining. If you're interested in participating in the chat, please fill out this form. Chinese food has been popular since Americans started going out to dinner, but cooking it at home has never quite caught on - maybe because so many Americanized Chinese restaurants still serve sweet-and-sticky or deep-fried dishes (I'm looking at you, General Tso's chicken) that don't seem like good weeknight choices. Enter Fuchsia Dunlop, a British journalist who has done more to explain real Chinese cooking to non-Chinese cooks than anyone. It all started in the mid-1990s, when she enrolled in cooking school in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, more to improve her language skills than with the expectation of becoming a skilled cook. Her latest cookbook, "Every Grain of Rice," is about simple, everyday Chinese cooking, leaving no more room for excuses from American home cooks. Anyone can buy a bamboo steamer online, and tofu is available at nearly every supermarket in the country. Frankly, there isn't a faster or more healthful way of organizing weeknight dinners. And we are not just talking about stir-fries. The recipes in this book are authentic, gathered from Ms. Dunlop's travels around China, and were chosen to suit modern home cooks. We're going to make gong bao chicken, a pop classic with hot chiles, crunchy peanuts and plenty of garlic and ginger. Then Ms. Dunlop will join me and three Dining readers in a live video chat to discuss the recipe and Chinese cooking at home. "Everyone loves it, and it's complex enough to be interesting without being too complicated to make," Ms. Dunlop said of the gong bao chicken. Plenty to talk about. We look forward to it. Gong Bao Chicken With Peanuts Adapted from "Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking," by Fuchsia Dunlop (W.W. Norton & Company, 2013) Time: 40 minutes Yield: 2 to 3 servings For the chicken: 2 boneless chicken breasts (11 to 12 ounces total), with or without skin 3 garlic cloves An equivalent amount of ginger 5 spring onions, white parts only A handful of dried chiles (about 10) 2 tablespoons cooking oil 1 teaspoon whole Sichuan pepper 3 ounces (75 grams) roasted peanuts (see note) For the marinade: 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons light soy sauce 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine (or use dry sherry or dry vermouth) 1 1/2 teaspoons potato starch or cornstarch For the sauce: 3/4 teaspoon potato starch or cornstarch 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce 1 teaspoon light soy sauce 1 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar (or use balsamic vinegar) 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 tablespoon chicken stock or water Cut chicken as evenly as possible into half-inch strips, then cut strips into small cubes. Place in a small bowl. Add marinade ingredients and 1 tablespoon water to bowl. Mix well and set aside. Peel and thinly slice garlic and ginger. Chop spring onions into chunks as long as their diameter (to match the chicken cubes). Snip chiles in half or into sections, discarding their seeds. In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients. Heat a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add oil, chiles and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry briefly until chiles are darkening but not burned. Remove wok from heat if necessary to prevent overheating. Quickly add chicken and stir-fry over a high flame, stirring constantly. As soon as chicken cubes have separated, add ginger, garlic and spring onions and continue to stir-fry until they are fragrant and meat is just cooked through (test one of the larger pieces to make sure). Give sauce a stir and add to wok, continuing to stir and toss. As soon as the sauce has become thick and shiny, add the peanuts, stir them in and serve. Note: Store-bought roasted peanuts work well here, but if you want to roast your own peanuts, heat oven to 250 degrees. Place raw nuts on an oven tray and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until fragrant and very slightly golden. Keep an eye on them, as they are easily burned. Cool nuts on a plate, then rub nuts between your fingertips to loosen their skins. Shake nuts as you blow over them; skins will blow away.