General Tso's Chicken

Can I just say how proud I was of myself after I made this dish! I don't always succeed at making Chinese food, but this meal was a true success!

Minus the fact that I had some issues with my chicken having too much moisture for the hot oil I put it in. Lets just say if I had a gas stove I don't know if I would be writing this post.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN FRYING WITH HOT OIL!!

Moving on, this recipes is....SUPREME!! I loved it! I love the batter you put the chicken in. The sauce was absolutely delicious, I loved the fresh ginger in it. When the hubby walked in from school, he told me the house smelt good! As soon as I bit into a piece of chicken I felt like I was dining at a restaurant like P.F. Changs, it was that wonderful! 

I highly suggest you make this dish this week, it is fabulous!

General Tso's Chicken

Serves: 4

FOR THE CHICKEN:

1-½ teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

1 whole Large Egg White

¼ cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

1 pound Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs

Canola, Peanut, Or Vegetable Oil For Frying

FOR THE SAUCE:

1 Tablespoon Peanut, Canola Or Vegetable Oil

2 cloves Garlic, Peeled And Minced

2 Tablespoons Finely Chopped Fresh Ginger Root

1 cup Chicken Broth Or Stock

¼ cups Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

1 teaspoon Chinese Chile-garlic Sauce

3 Tablespoons Raw (turbinado Or Demerara) Sugar

SERVING:

4 whole Scallions, Thinly Sliced

Steamed Rice

Steamed Broccoli

Preparation Instructions

Prep your chicken:

In a mixing bowl, stir together the sesame oil, soy sauce, egg white, and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch until a thick slurry forms. It will look gummy but smooth.

Add the chicken pieces and stir until all are evenly coated. At first it may appear that it will not come together but it does!

Set chicken aside, covered lightly with plastic wrap, at room temperature for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Begin the sauce:

Add the tablespoon of oil to a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat. Stir the garlic and ginger into the oil and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining sauce ingredients until smooth. Pour into the garlic and ginger, stirring, until the sauce becomes thick and shiny. Once the sauce thickens, lower heat and keep the saucepan over a low burner partially covered to stay warm.

To fry the chicken:

Heat 1/2-inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed, high-sided frying pan or skillet over high heat.

When the oil is shimmering, add one piece of chicken at a time, taking care not to crowd the pan. Cook chicken for 4 minutes on each side, or until deep golden brown and crisp on both sides**.

Transfer the fried chicken to a paper towel lined plate and repeat the process until you’ve cooked all the chicken.

Then slide all of the fried chicken into the prepared sauce and toss to coat. (If desired, add some steamed broccoli to coat with the sauce also.) Increase the heat to medium, stir and cook just until hot all the way through.

Sprinkle with sliced scallions and serve immediately over white rice.

Recipe From: Tasty Kitchen

**A note from Rebecca from Tasty Kitchen: Chicken is a safe food for me. I know that just about anything done to it is going to yield something that is, at the very least, edible. This is especially true of boneless skinless chicken thighs. It’s really hard to mess those up! They stay tender and juicy and it’s very hard indeed to cook them to the point of chicken jerky. Be sure to cook them through, you definitely want that crisp, deep-brown coating to hold up to the sauce!

*** Instead of raw sugar I just used brown sugar. I also cut my chicken up into bite size pieces, if you do that, just fry them 2 minutes per a side instead of 4.