Thursday, March 13, 2014
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General Tsos Chicken with Steamed Broccoli
This is also my REAL FOOD entry in the Two for Tuesday blog hop carnival!
General Tsos Chicken with Steamed Broccoli
There are a few Chinese Restaurant standards that we expect to see on the menu of our favorite take-out place and General Tsos is certainly one of them. Despite the fact that it is not authentically Asian, the lightly crispy chunks of deep fried chicken coated in that beautifully sticky, equally sweet and spicy sauce, certainly makes it a favorite among restaurant goers. My sister had been studying the menu of a local Chinese food restaurant earlier in the day which enticed me to consider joining her from some take-out. I quickly reconsidered after realizing I already had on hand the ingredients to make my own Chinese food feast right in my own kitchen. I hopped on over to the computer and scanned some recipes for General Tsos chicken and was both relieved and excited that it definitely looked do-able. After reviewing the ingredients from several recipes and websites, I devised my own recipe which turned out fabulously....and no MSG headache!
I started by making the sauce by combining several tablespoons of tamari, a splash of white wine, a couple of tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, about 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of Asian chili garlic sauce, 1 large minced garlic clove, a small tablespoon of fresh grated ginger and a sprinkle of cornstarch, about 1 tablespoon. After stirring all the ingredients to combine and dissolve the sugar, I set it aside.
Several recipes I reviewed called for boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch cubes, which sounded great and I do love the idea of utilizing the dark meat, however, I had a bag full of individually packaged frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts which I decided to use instead. Actually, I think after trying the breast meat in this dish, I actually prefer it to the dark meat, but certainly feel free to use either.
I partially thawed a boneless skinless chicken breast so that it would be easier to cut and proceeded to cut it into 1 inch pieces. Meanwhile, in a bowl, I combined 2 eggs and 1/4 cup of cornstarch and whisked is really well to combine and remove any lumps. I added the chicken pieces to the egg mixture and made certain each piece was completed coated. Then, in my wok, I added enough canola oil to deep fry the chicken pieces and heated it to 350 degrees. I, carefully, added the coated chicken pieces to the hot oil and fried them for about 10 minutes or until they were just cooked through. I removed the crispy chicken pieces with slotted spoon or spider and placed them on a paper towel lined plate for just a minute.
Next, the tricky part! I only used 1 pan (mostly for my own ease of clean up afterwards) so I had to remove the hot oil before proceeding. I very carefully poured the hot oil into a large pyrex bowl, which was placed in the sink just in case it spilled, until it was cool (several hours later) and then transferred it to a zip lock bag and tossed into the garbage. You can certainly use two separate pans, one to do the deep frying and another to stir fry and finish the dish. In either case, please be very safe when handling hot oil!
Now, the fun part! I placed the wok over medium heat and poured in the sauce. After stirring it for just a minute to allow the garlic and ginger to cook a bit, I tumbled in the fried chicken and stirred well to coat each piece with the now thick and wonderfully sticky sauce. Serve immediately over fluffy white rice and steamed broccoli.
This is also my REAL FOOD entry in the Two for Tuesday blog hop carnival!
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