Clubfoodys General Tsos Chicken

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.

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN RECIPE

Steps:

• Cut chicken into 1-inch cubes. Toss each piece with cornstarch. Set aside.
• In a separate dish, combine all the ingredients for your sauce together.
• Preheat a non-stick skillet with oil. Cook each chicken piece until all the sides are golden brown. Remove the chicken from the pan. Leave about 1 tbsp of oil in the pan for cooking.
• Add the garlic, ginger and pepper flakes. Sautee for about 30 seconds.
• Add the sauce to the skillet and bring it to a simmer then add the chicken and toss to coat. Serve right away!

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• Sauce-Marinade: Mix the soy, hoisin, vinegar, chilli and sesame oil.
• Marinate Chicken: Take out 2 tablespoons of Sauce-Marinade and mix with chicken. Add ginger and garlic to chicken, mix, then marinate 30 minutes.
• Dust chicken: Add cornflour into chicken and toss to coat, ensuring pieces are separated so they get fully coated.
• Shake off excess: Tip into a colander and shake to remove excess cornflour (or grab handfuls, shake so cornflour falls through your fingers).
• Finish Sauce: To the remaining Sauce-Marinade (that you made in Step 1), add sugar and cornflour. Mix, then add chicken stock and mix.
• Heat oil: Heat 2 cm / 4/5" oil in a deep skillet (or large pot - whatever you're comfortable with) to 200°C/390°F. To use less, see Note 4.
• Fry: Cook chicken 3 minutes, turning halfway, until golden and crispy. Drain on paper towel lined plate.
• New / clean skillet: Discard oil, wipe skillet and return to heat. Or use another large skillet.
• Stir Fry Sauce: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, saute 30 seconds until garlic is light golden. Add Sauce, bring to simmer and stir occasionally until it thickens enough that you can draw a path across pan base.
• Toss! Add chicken, toss to coat quickly - the quicker you are, the crispier the chicken stays! Transfer to serving plate, garnish and serve immediately with your rice of choice.

CLUBFOODY'S GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• In a bowl, add orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and chili oil; whisk well.
• Place chicken pieces in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons sauce. Stir well before seasoning with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; stir again. Marinate the meat for 30 minutes.
• Half an hour later, dredge the chicken pieces with cornstarch until well coated and set aside.
• In a Dutch oven over medium high heat, add oil and when the temperature reaches 385ºF/196ºC, working in batches, carefully add the chicken pieces. Fry them for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Using a spider strainer, transfer the fried pieces to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
• To finish the sauce; in a large saucepan or wok over medium heat, add oil and when it gets hot, add green onions (white parts) and dried red chilies; sauté for only 1 minute.
• Add ginger and garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Pour in the sauce and stir well before adding the chicken broth mixed with 1 tablespoons cornstarch. Stir until the sauce thickens, about 45 seconds.
• Add fried chicken pieces and stir to coat, heating them through quickly - don't leave them too long otherwise they'll lose their crispiness.
• Serve over white rice and garnish with green onions (green parts) and sesame seeds.

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Steps:

• For the chicken, mix the egg white with the potato flour in a bowl, then add the soy sauce, Shaohsing wine (or sherry) and the chicken. Turn the chicken over to coat it.
• For the sauce, mix together the tomato purée, 2-3 tbsp water, potato flour, soy sauces, rice vinegar, sugar and Shaohsing wine and set this aside. Snip the chillies into 5cm lengths, discarding the seeds.
• Heat the oil in a wok and cook the garlic, ginger and chillies over a medium heat until they're aromatic and beginning to soften, but not brown.
• Mix the cornflour and plain flour for the coating with salt and pepper and tip into a broad shallow bowl. Working with one piece of chicken at a time, dip it in the flour mix and set the pieces onto a tray.
• Pour enough oil into a deep pan to come 8cm up the sides. Heat until it reaches 200C (if you drop in a test piece of chicken, it should sizzle straight away). Carefully add half the chicken pieces and fry until they're crisp and golden - agitating the pieces to make sure they don't stick together - about 4 mins. Lift the pieces out with a slotted spoon onto a double layer of kitchen paper. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.
• Heat the wok, add the sauce mixture to the garlic, ginger and chillies in there and cook, stirring, until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Add the chicken and half the spring onions and warm everything through. Serve with the sesame seeds and the rest of the spring onions scattered on top. This doesn't give you huge servings so it's best to offer another dish with it, as well as boiled rice.