Personally, if I'm making something for guests and I want to be sure it turns out ok, I'd have a quick practice in advance.

The only thing I'm aware off is needing to be careful with tarragon, as it can be very strong and possibly overpowering - but if you more or less follow the recipe and taste it as you are cooking, there's no reason why it wouldn't work. I suppose the same could be said about chilli - and whether you decide to leave the seeds out or put them in - again, I'd be tasting as I'm cooking - although be careful adding chilli - I tend not to notice it gradually increasing in heat (and I like things very hot anyway), so I can be merrily eating away whilst other diners are reaching for the water jug  . Now I call my partner in to taste check as well.

It certainly sounds like an interesting recipe - can you post it?

Otherwise, if it worked for your friend, then ask him for his tricks

SP

Here's a great recipe of chicken cube, I just translated it into English:
prepare:chicken breast(300g) peanut(50g) dried chilli(20g) farina(25g) bree(20g) peanut oil(80g)
Cut the chicken breast into cubes of 1or2cm square, add soy-sauce,yellow wine,farina and salt to season it. Mix some soy sauce,sugar,vinegar,bree and farina to make the sauce. Fry the peanuts until they'r crisp.Fry the chopped chilli until dark in another pan with oil,then stir-fry the chicken breast cubes in the pan, put some garlic and ginger and shallot in it. When the chicken cubes are cooked, add the premade sauce into it, stir, add the fried peanuts and stir a little bit. Done! Enjoy it with chopsticks. Lovely!
It's really nice. Have a try!