Chinese Take Out General Tsos Chicken Food

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• For the chicken: Place your broccoli florets in a medium bowl and add 2 tablespoons water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 2 minutes, until tender. Drain and set aside until ready to use.
• Heat the oil in a 4-quart (3.8-liter) Dutch oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) using a frying thermometer. Rinse the chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Mix 1 1/2 cups (335 grams) of the tempura flour and 1 cup (240 milliliters) water into a thick batter. It should look like thick pancake batter. Dredge the chicken cubes in the 1 cup (223 grams) of tempura flour and then coat them in the batter. Fry them in two batches until golden brown and crispy, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain the chicken on paper towels or a rack.
• Heat a wok or large skillet to high and add 2 tablespoons (30 milliliters) of oil. When you see the first wisps of white smoke, stir in the fried chicken, onion, chiles, broccoli, and 1/3 of the ginger and garlic and cook them for about 30 seconds.
• For the sauce: While the chicken cooks, add the oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce, sugar, white vinegar, soy sauce, cornstarch slurry, red food coloring if using, 1/3 cup water and the remaining chopped ginger and garlic into a 1-quart (946-millileter) saucepan and bring the heat up to medium. Whisk gently as it comes to a simmer. Allow it to simmer and keep whisking it for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and reserve it.
• Stir in the sauce and allow it to coat the chicken and simmer. Cook it, folding all the ingredients until they are well coated, about 2 minutes. Garnish with the scallions.

CHINESE TAKE-OUT GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, combine the egg, 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon mirin. Add the chicken and let it marinate at room temperature while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
• In a separate bowl, combine the remaining tablespoon of cornstarch, the remaining 1/4 cup soy sauce, the remaining 2 tablespoons mirin, and the rice vinegar, sugar, hoisin, chili paste, peppercorns, sesame oil, and 1/2 cup water. Set aside.
• In a heavy pot over medium heat, heat 3 inches of oil to 360ºF.
• Add about 10 pieces of chicken to the hot oil and fry until brown and crispy, about 2 minutes. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining chicken. Set aside.
• Remove all but 3 tablespoons of oil from the pot and add the chilies, ginger, and garlic, and cook for 30 seconds. Add the broccoli and bell pepper and stir-fry, tossing the vegetables for 2 minutes or until they are brightly colored and partially cooked.
• Add the cooked chicken to the pot along with the reserved sauce and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens and the vegetables are tender, about 2 minutes.
• To serve, sprinkle green onions over the top and serve hot with rice.

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• 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. This also keeps your dirty dishes down.
• Mix cornstarch slurry in a large bowl- the mixture will be strange but trust me it works. It will be VERY thick almost paste like. Add ALL the chicken pieces and stir to coat. Using a fork remove ONE chicken piece at a time and let the excess mixture drip off. YES even though the mixture has a weird consistency it will not stick like paste and the excess will drip off. Add chicken to the hot (350 degree) oil and fry until crispy. Only cook 7 or 8 chicken pieces at a time. You do not want to lower the temp of the oil by cooking too many at a time. You can use a simple cooking or candy thermometer to judge the temp of the oil.
• Drain on paper towels. Want them extra crispy? Put them on a rack over a sheet pan. Keep warm- I just put them in the oven with the oven off. Repeating until all chicken is fried.
• In a separate wok or large skillet add a small amount of oil and heat to 400 degrees. Again, a candy thermometer works great. (Want less dishes? You can just drain the oil after you fry all the chicken, leave a small amount (about a tsp) in the pan and use the same pan if you like.)
• Add green onions and hot peppers and stir fry about 30 seconds.
• Stir (or shake jar) sauce mixture, and then add to pan with onions and peppers, cook until thick. Some reviews didn't kniw what "thick" meant. Thick like the same sauce you get at a restaurant.you want it to just coat the chicken. If it gets too thick, add a little water or other liquid. The thickness of the sauce should be similar to what you get when ordering this at a restaurant.
• Add chicken to sauce in wok and heat just until the chicken is hot enough for you. It may not even need a minute if you kept the chicken warm. The quicker you serve it the crispier the chicken stays.
• Don't be scared by any negative reviews. It's not rocket science though if you have never cooked with a cornstarch slurry it may feel like an experiment. Trust yourself! You've got this! If you have any doubts reread the recipe and get everything in order before you start to cook. I promise you will thank yourself and maybe even me! Enjoy!
• Oh it's great served over rice!

LIGHTER GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• Cook rice according to package instructions.
• Meanwhile, in large bowl, stir together 1 T cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water until smooth.
• Add snow peas or sugar snap peas, garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce and red pepper flakes; toss to combine and set aside.
• In another bowl, whisk together egg whites, remaining 3 T cornstarch, 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t pepper.
• Add chicken and toss to coat.
• In large nonstick skillet, heat 1 T oil over medium-high heat.
• Lift half the chicken from egg-white mixture (shaking off excess) and add to skillet.
• Cook, turning occasionally, until golden, 6-8 minutes.
• Transfer to a plate, repeat with remaining oil and chicken, and set aside (reserve skillet).
• Add snow pea mixture to skillet.
• Cover and cook until snow peas are tender and sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes.
• Return chicken to skillet (with any juices); toss to coat.
• Serve with the rice.

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• MARINATING: Put all marinade ingredients into resealable zip plastic bag; seal and rotate to mix.
• Cut chicken into thin bite-size strips (approximate 2"x1/4"x1"), cutting across the grain of the meat.
• Put chicken in marinade and rotate to evenly coat chicken.
• Marinate for 20 minutes, turning once after 10 minutes.
• Remove chicken from marinade and drain well in colander, discarding marinade.
• STIR-FRYING: In a hot wok or frying pan, heat the oil on high, adding half the chicken to the hot pan.
• Stir fry about 2 minutes until chicken browns.
• With slotted spoon, remove chicken from hot pan and set aside.
• Repeat with remaining chicken.
• ***If you are using (optional) spring onions, stir-fry them now for about 1 minute.
• In hot pan, stir fry chili peppers for 10 seconds, adding a little more oil if needed.
• FINISHING WITH SAUCE: Add sauce ingredients to hot pan and stir fry about 2-3 minutes, or until sauce is thickened.
• Add chicken just to heat it (if using, add cooked green onions now) and toss with sauce.
• Serve over hot white rice or fried rice.

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN (TAKE OUT FAKEOUT)

Steps:

• Step by step.
• Prepare rice according to package instructions.
• Blanch (slightly steam) the broccoli. It should still be fairly crisp.
• In a small bowl, prepare the sauce by whisking together 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and the water first, then add the chicken broth, garlic, ginger, honey, soy sauce and pepper flakes.
• Adjust the pepper flakes to your taste. I used only 1/2 tablespoon so my kids could eat it.
• Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat.
• In another small bowl, mix the remaining 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, salt and pepper.
• Throw the chicken pieces into the cornstarch mixture and toss to coat.
• Working in batches, brown the chicken in the oil.
• Once all the chicken is browned, put it all back into the skillet.
• Add the broccoli and the sauce.
• Cook over for a few minutes more until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is thickened.
• Serve the chicken and broccoli mixture over rice.
• Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds if desired.

TOM'S GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• Save yourself a little time and chop the all the garlic and ginger when you make the marinade!
• Mix together the chili peppers, 1 tbsp ginger, 1 clove garlic, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil in a wok until sugar is dissolved. Heat it up a little just to make sure sugar is totally dissolved. Let it cool for a couple minutes.
• Put the chicken and broccoli into a large bowl and coat it with the flour.
• Pour the marinade over the chicken and broccoli; mix to coat, and marinate for at least 15 minutes but no longer than 2 hours.
• Heat wok over high heat until very hot and add the oil.
• Working quickly add the ginger, garlic, chili (optional), sugar, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar and stir to combine.
• Add the chicken and broccoli in the wok along with the marinade and continue to cook until the chicken is brown (about 1-2 minutes).
• Once the chicken is brown, add the tomato paste and water (or broth) and stir it until the tomato paste is incorporated.
• Continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes, until chicken is done and sauce has thickened.
• Taste the sauce and season to taste with more soy, vinegar, sugar, chiles, etc --
• Serve with rice.