General Tso Chicken

DefyGravity

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 12:59 pm

I made this a few weeks ago and really liked it. It tasted just like General Tso from a restaurant.

To make the meal go quickly prep everything the day or night before and store in the fridge. To make this easy to understand I have changed the terms to cornstarch slurry and sauce. The first is used to coat the chicken for frying, the second to coat the fried chicken. HTH I use a grater with small holes for the ginger and garlic or you can just zip all the sauce ingredients up in a blender or food processor. Enjoy!
by mama's kitchen

40 min | 20 min prep
SERVES 8
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 cups green onions, sliced
8 small dried chilies, seeds removed (chile pequin, bird's eye, etc..)

Cornstarch slurry
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 egg, beaten
1 cup cornstarch
I think it'll be easier to beat the egg, add the soy sauce, put that in a ziploc bag, coat the chicken in that, and then put the chicken in a ziploc bag with the cornstarch. Using the actual slurry mixture didn't work very well for me (DG).

Sauce
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sherry wine or white wine
14 1/2 ounces chicken broth (a can)

Place sauce ingredients in a quart jar with a lid and shake to mix. If you make this ahead of time just refrigerate until needed, shaking it again when you are ready to use it.

Mix cornstarch slurry in a large bowl- the mixture will be strange but trust me it works. Add chicken pieces to coat. Using a fork remove ONE chicken piece at a time and let the excess mixture drip off. Add it to the hot (350 degree) oil and fry until crispy. Only cook 7 or 8 chicken pieces at a time.
Drain on paper towels. Repeating until all chicken is fried.

In a separate wok or large skillet add a small amount of oil and heat to 400 degrees.

Add green onions and hot peppers and stir fry about 30 seconds. (I also added broccoli - DG)
Stir sauce mixture, and then add to pan with onions and peppers, cook until thick. If it gets too thick, add a little water.

Add chicken to sauce in wok, and cook until all is hot and bubbly.
Serve over rice.

pinktichel

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 1:03 pm

this sounds amazing! can't wait to try it for dinner next week!

justmom

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 1:14 pm

I made this also-- we must have gotten it from the same recipe on the internet-- the trust me it works line stuck with me-- if you mix the slurry enough it coats the chicken very nicely.

pinktichel

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 1:17 pm

how do you think this recipe would work for friday night?
I usually leave my chicken on the blech/hot plate.

DefyGravity

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 1:18 pm

Did you put the slurry in a bowl and then dip the pieces in it?

I put it into a ziploc bag b/c that's how I usually coat my chicken, and it didn't work out so well that way.

I just don't have the patience to dip the chicken pieces in a bowl, so next time I'll do what someone suggested on recipezaar which was use the separate ziploc bags of cornstarch and egg/soy sauce mixture.

I think next time I'll also put the sauce on the chicken right before serving, then the chicken will stay crispy.

DefyGravity

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 1:19 pm

I made it for shabbos dinner. I kept it in the oven after I turned it off. It was good, but I think it's the type of recipe that tastes better if it's served immediately.

ShakleeMom

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 2:02 pm

Suggestion: dredge the chicken peices into plain corn starch first, and then the egg-soysauce mixture. double dipping but effective.

justmom

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 3:04 pm

I dipped it in a bowl-- and only a few pieces at a time like the recipe suggested-- very time consuming, and honestly, not the greatest hit with the family--kept the recipe though because I thought it was very good.

shopaholic

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 5:01 pm

Just emailed it to DH to print. Gonna try it tomorrow night.

mimivan

Tue, Jan 27 2009, 7:25 pm

can't wait to try it..we just had Chinese tonight (Chocoloate Moose's Sesame chicken..) so I'll have to put it on the agenda for next week.

shopaholic

Wed, Jan 28 2009, 10:29 am

Defy - I prepared the 2 sauces last night. Are you sure I'm gonna be able to dip the chicken into the slurry? It's soooo thick!

DefyGravity

Wed, Jan 28 2009, 10:34 am

I was able to do it, but that's why I gave the modification I did, because for me, it was difficult to use the slurry. I think if you put it into a bowl and dip the pieces in, you should be fine. However, next time I make it, I'm going to do the modifications I mentioned in the recipe.

Keep in mind, the slurry is supposed to be a fairly dry mixture, it's not wet. It's like dipping the chicken in a slightly wet flour mixture.

shopaholic

Wed, Jan 28 2009, 2:59 pm

I read the whole recipe but misunderstood. I threw away the slurry & did your modification. Looks good. I'll let you know how it tasted after we eat it.

DefyGravity

Wed, Jan 28 2009, 3:25 pm

Let me know how it turns out.

Tila

Mon, Mar 02 2009, 2:33 pm

GOTCHA!!! I will try it!!! How to print this....

Tila

Thu, Mar 12 2009, 11:16 am

I made it!! The slurry was NOT hard to work with. If you do not cook with your hands and fingers I can understand that it would be difficult. Like you have to stick your fingers in the mush to seperate the pieces. It was really good!! I would use less chillis next time. As well, I would add more sugar and more ginger. I defrosted a costco size pkg of breasts (we get Chai poltry at our costco;frozen). So I made pineapple chicken and cranberry mustard chicken as well. EVERYTHING was finished by tueday!!

DefyGravity

Thu, Mar 12 2009, 11:34 am

I'm glad to hear it came out well. Last night I made Kung Pao chicken - I really really liked it!

I have no problem with touching chicken, I'm just lazy and didn't want to dip all the pieces, so I thought that I would be able to put it into a bag and shake it - and it didn't work so well that way.