nobleheart: I can live without all of those appliances (and in fact, most of the things on your list are absent in my kitchen). But I wouldn't want to part with my knives, my cutting board, my woks and my cast-iron pans.

Ingredients (serves two):
2 chicken legs

1 tbs corn starch
2 tbs sherry

1 cup chicken stock
2 tbs soy sauce

2 gloves of garlic
2 slices of ginger
0.5 tbs of chili paste
1.5 tbs of curry powder

1.5 cups of vegetable oil


Divide the chicken legs in small pieces - avoid splintering the bones. Mix the corn starch and the sherry, and marinate the chicken in it for 15 to 20 minutes.

Heat the oil in a wok, and fry the chicken till golden. Don't fry it all at once, but in three to four batches. Remove oil from wok (if cooled and sieved, this can be storen in an airtight container - I use glass jars - and reused).

Chop the garlic and ginger very fine. Heat 1 tbs of oil in the wok, and fry the ginger, garlic, chili paste and curry powder for about a minute. Add the stock and the soy sauce, and bring to a boil. Add the chicken and simmer for 8 minutes. Thicken the sauce with a bit of corn starch.

Serve with rice and stir-fried vegatables.