For the past two weeks I have been cooking within strict boundaries. Because I am leaving for a month-long trip to the US, and giving up my current apartment, I have not only been restraining myself from buying any new bottles of sauces, spices, and cooking oils, but also trying desperately to use up what I have left. Which is easier said than done. How many meals of basil-cumin pasta must I eat while fighting the urge to buy more dried oregano? Or chili garlic noodles, while convincing myself any new sauces will just end up in the garbage? 

One item I desperately wanted to use up with an almost-full bottle of vegetable oil that I simply did not feel like packing. And what's an easier way to use up oil than frying? Fortunately, there was one dish I could make without buying anything except chicken and leeks. And whenever I teach it in my Sichuan cooking classes, all traces of crispy chicken are gone within 5 minutes.

Lazi jiding (辣子鸡丁) is like a more sophisticated version of kung pao chicken. It's smokier, spicier (a lot spicier if you chop up the chilis), and only a bit more complex in its preparation. (The way I make it is more like shallow-frying. I use about 1 1/2 cups of oil, and dredge the chicken in a cornstarch-salt-pepper mixture beforehand.) Few fried chicken entrees are enveloped by such a succulent tongue-tingling sauce.

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