General Tso Chicken is a delicious Chinese stir fry recipe with crispy chicken tossed in a slightly sweet, savory and tangy vinegar sauce
Being the only female in a house full of males and teenagers makes life interesting.
For starters, since I am the shortest and smallest person in my family, they think for some reason that this means that I need to eat much smaller portions than all of the rest of them. Okay, it might be true that I really do need less caloric intake than the rest of my family but it should also mean that at least I get a little portion of dinner.
Last nights dinner event broke the last straw of motherly patience and perseverance. I made a delicious entrée of General Tso Chicken and rice. General Tso Chicken is a quick and easy delicious Chinese chicken stir fry. General Tso Chicken starts with crispy flavorful seasoned fried chicken that has a crunchy crust but is moist and juicy on the inside. The fried chicken is then glazed with a gorgeous sweet, savory, and tangy vinegar sauce that will have you going back for seconds and third helping. I even added a little chili in mine to give it just a touch of zip.
On record...Boys: 3 helping each, Mom: 0 helpings. At this rate, I am going to be loosing weight fast.
I have learned my lesson the hard way. If you have teenagers at home, do not bring the dishes to the table before you are seated along with them. I repeat do not bring the food to the table unattended with hungry teenagers. If you think for some strange reason, you need to bring the food to the table before you can actually sit down to be seated, make sure you take off your portion and leave your portion in the kitchen hidden in a very safe place. I repeat, do not leave your food portion unattended!!!!
There is a vast array of restaurants here in Hong Kong but of course the only food here that is worth a mention is the local cuisine. My boys always have loved General Tso Chicken in the restaurants and I decided to give it a spin in our kitchen. I knew that I wanted to use the concept of frying the chicken twice as believe it or not it leaves the chicken less oily and more crispy. I wanted to find a way to decrease the processed sugars and use more natural sweeteners. In addition, I wanted to accent the flavors of savory, spicy, sweet and sour in a perfect balance in a delightful sauce. I think the experimentation was a success as my teenagers did not even leave me a scrap, not even a morsel.
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General Tso Chicken
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
or tamari sauce - 1 tablespoon rice wine
Shao Xing Rice Wine - 1 egg
beaten - ½ cup cornstarch
- oil for frying
Sauce
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup soy sauce or tamari
- 3 tablespoon rice wine Shao Xing Rice Wine
- ¼ cup honey
- 1.5 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 6 tablespoon water
- ½ teaspoon garlic minced
- 1-2 chilis
if desired - optional - 2 green onions
chopped for garnish - optional
Instructions
- In a bowl combine soy sauce, sherry and egg and chicken and coat well.
- In a plastic sealable bag, place your cornstarch and a few coated chicken pieces at a time and shake until well coated in cornstarch. Remove the chicken pieces from the bag and shake off the excess cornstarch and set on a wire rack or in dish to rest for about 30 minutes to one hour. (This step of marinating in sauces and cornstarch really makes the chicken tasty and crispy)
- Make your sauce: In a bowl combine chicken broth, soy sauce, sherry, honey, rice vinegar and stir until combined. In a small bowl slowly combine cornstarch and water until dissolved and add to the rest of the remaining sauce liquid and stir until well incorporated. Set aside.
- Fry the Chicken: Heat the oil in a small pot to about 350 degrees.(If you submerge your chopsticks in the oil they will bubble around them) Use enough oil to cover the chicken pieces when frying. In small batches without crowding, deep-fry the chicken pieces until the coating sets, about 30 seconds. Remove the chicken and wait 30 seconds. Return the chicken to the oil and cook until golden, about another 2-4 minutes until crispy and brown. Remove the chicken from the oil with a strainer and place on a plate. Repeat process with the remaining chicken pieces. I placed my cooked chicken in the oven to keep warm while I fried the remaining pieces and made the sauce.
- Putting it all together: Place about a teaspoon of oil in your wok and heat up. Add chili and garlic and fry until aromatic. Add the sauce mixture and bring to a boil until thickens into a rich and delicious sauce. quickly add the fried chicken and green onions and just stir until chicken is well coated. Remove from wok to a serving platter.
- Serve delicious General Tso Chicken with rice and make sure you take your helping out before you bring it to the dinner table to your hungry family.
Becky says
Although we don't have this in China, It is a favorite in Taiwan & popular in USA.
David Crichton says
This is so perfect, I bet the Chinese are wondering how you managed it. Beautiful.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you David. Many Chinese dishes all have a main theme to follow for prep such as the marinating of the meat, quick stir fry to keep the veggies crisp and then the sauces. Once you have all the main ingredients in your pantry it is so easy to whip up. Take care, BAM
Preena @ A Teaspoon of Turmeric says
Looks great! I want to make this vegetarian, do you think it will taste similar using tofu?
Healthy World Cuisine says
I think fried tofu, a veggie burger or even a black bean veggie burger would work really nice with this dish. I would just sprinkle or mix in a little cumin, garlic and maybe a little chili powder on the tofu before frying to give it some added flavor. Take care, BAM
lambyknits01 says
Yum! This looks amazing, and my husband loves General Tso Chicken 🙂
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you and if your hubby is anything like my teenagers you best quadruple the recipe if you would like a taste of it too. Take care, BAM
Sammie says
Mmm!! Bam! That looks great! I'm so impressed with the asian food you make! I can't wait till you open a restaurant in HK Bam! haha.. P.S. I might be visiting HK soon! yayyyy! So excitingggg
Healthy World Cuisine says
Sammy I would love to meet up with you! Please do give me a shout out if you have the time to meet up even for a quick cup of cha. Take Care, BAM
rsmacaalay says
I love making this one at home and usually make them hot and spicy. Yummy!
Healthy World Cuisine says
The boys love it extra spicy and love anything with peppers and heat.
Korena in the Kitchen says
OK, new rule: you serve yourself first! This looks so good though, I can understand why your boys ate it all!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Korena, I guess I need to apply these rules starting today. 1) no food leaves Bam's kitchen unless first photographed 2 ) no food leaves Healthy World Cuisine unless chef has eaten first! Rules to live by and for kids to follow... Take care, BAM
bitsandbreadcrumbs says
Serves 4 adults or 1 hungry teenager...I love it! Sounds like you need to wear skates in the kitchen, BAM, so that you can get to the table more quickly! What a great sounding dish...I used to love General Tso's chicken and havent' had it in a while. This is making me hungry!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Now I know what to ask Santa for x-mas" a pair of roller skates"! Thanks for that idea. Have a super weekend. BAM