Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A visual recipe: General Tso's Chicken

Sauce:

1 1/2 tsp garlic minced (I personally prefer more)


1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup white wine vinegar


3/4 cup sugar


1 1/2 tsp ginger (preferably fresh ground root but powder will do in a pinch)

add the soy and vinegar to the garlic, sugar, and ginger


also half a cup of hot chicken broth


stir all of that together till the sugar is dissolved, then cover and put in fridge

Batter for Chicken:

combine an egg and 2/3 cup of ice water and mix well


add 1/2 cup corn starch and 1/2 cup flour to mixing bowl



also add 1tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt



Mix the dry ingredients and then mix in the icewater/egg mixture



now take your chicken and add 1/2 tsp pepper and 1 tbsp soy sauce, mix till coated




Time to rinse and prep your vegetables


Putting it all together:

lets add our batter to the chicken and mix to coat too while we are at it

and its time to start our wok; put the burner as high as you can get it and let it run


careful of spatter when you add the cup of peanut oil

once the oil is face meltingly hot, start adding the battered chicken in small ladled portions

make sure to stir the chicken with some cooking chopsticks so they don't stick together like a big pancake

inbetween chicken frying why not make up your thickener

3 tbsp cornstarch in 1/4 cup water mixed

now that you have cooked all the chicken, pour out half of your oil

take the rest of the oil and cook your veg

let broccoli cook longest and onions least

after about 30 seconds add your 2 tbsp of chili based whatever (chili paste works really well but this time i used sriracha)

time to add your sauce you put in the fridge earlier

after you cook that for a little add your thickener and mix well

then add the chicken and coat well

and there you have it ^_^ delicious chicken dinner

many thanks to my hand model Susan for pouring things into other things while i took pictures.
oh and here is the text version:

ingredients
Sauce:
1 1/2 tsp. garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp. fresh ginger root, minced
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup hot chicken broth
Chicken:
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
breaded:
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 egg
1/4 cup cornstarch



OR
Tempura style:
1 Tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp Pepper
½ cup flour
½ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
2/3 cup ice water
Yellow food coloring (optional)



1 cup canola oil (for frying)
1 cup carrots, chopped into thin diagonal slices
1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp. chili pepper paste (available in the produce section of many store - in a toothpaste type tube) or use crushed chili peppers
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup green onion, sliced into diagonal pieces (for garnish)

method

Prepare the Sauce: In a small bowl combine garlic, ginger, sugar, 1/4 cup soy sauce and white wine vinegar. Add hot chicken broth and stir until sugar dissolves. Refrigerate until needed.
To Prepare Chicken: In a separate bowl, combine chicken, 1 Tbsp. soy sauce and pepper. Stir in egg. Add 1/4 cup cornstarch and stir until chicken is evenly coated.
Heat vegetable oil in skillet over medium high heat. Place chicken pieces into skillet, letting excess coating drip off before adding. Cook until crispy the remove to a paper towel covered plate.
Remove most of the oil from the skillet and return over medium high heat. Add carrots and cook for one minute. Add chili pepper and cook briefly. Add prepared sauce and cook briefly. Mix 3 Tbsp. cornstarch with 1/4 cup water and stir until smooth. Add to cooking sauce a bit at a time, until sauce thickens to desired thickness.
Return chicken to sauce and cook just until re-warmed. Transfer to serving plate and sprinkle with green onions to garnish.

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2 comments:

Melanie said...

WOW.... that is one of my favorite dishes at the local Chinese restaurant!! I've made it in a cheaing style, by buying a bottle of G.Tso's sauce and cooking up the chicken!! But, I'll have to try it your way now... LOOKS SCRUMPTIOUS! :)

Afflicted Life said...

thanks for the comment Melanie.
I think this recipe could use some tweaking for the tempura batter to make it thicker and might even benefit from the use of a deep fryer.
all in all though it really came out quite good.