Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Berleen's General Tso's Chicken Recipe

The husband hauls chicken. He's a truck driver, ya know. He hauls Gold N Plump chicken which is, by far, the best you can buy (I didn't get paid to say that). We have a lot of chicken in our freezer at any given time because of this. A few weeks ago I got a hair up my butt that I was going to make something different with the chicken. One of my favorite things to order at an Asian restaurant that we go to a lot is Hawaiian Chicken. I tried that. I failed. Miserably. It was awful. The husband ate it, but seriously? When he's hungry he'll eat just about anything. He's a growing boy, ya know.
I ran across a recipe for General Tso's chicken and yesterday was the 5th time I've made it this month. I have perfected it in the five tries. Yep, I'm tooting my own horn. Toot toot.
I've ended up combining a few recipes and taking cooking tips from other recipes to create my own. I've cut the cooking time by about 20 minutes and made something that even my daddy liked! I brought a plate over to him last night and this is an old German guy who doesn't like spicy food... he LOVED it!
So I bet you are wondering if I'm gonna share this recipe? Of course I am! I'm not shy... try it. And it's not quite as difficult as it sounds while you are reading it and it's worth the time it takes to make it. Both of my demon spawns have ordered me to make this at least once a week from now on. I serve mine with Jasmine rice... be prepared to have a full tummy when this is served!

The Berleen-variation of General Tso's Chicken

3 lbs chicken (I use about 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts)
2 cups green onions
8 small chilies (I use cayenne pepper, but I haven't got a measurement yet)

Slurry (coating)-
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 eggs (beaten)
1 cup cornstarch

Sauce -
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp garlic
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup white or sherry wine
1 can chicken broth
ginger - although I haven't figured out a measurement yet

I mix the sauce up ahead of time and store it in the fridge. It doesn't take long to mix it up, but it's nice to have it done. One less thing to do later.

Cut up chicken, put in bowl. (I marinate the chicken pieces in a bit of soy sauce for a couple hours) Put the slurry ingredients in and mix until all chicken is covered. It's going to be a weird consistency. Not too thin, not to thick - but weird.

Heat oil in pan and fry pieces of chicken until all brown. Put cooked pieces on a paper towel.

In same oil, put in cut up onions and chilies/cayenne pepper. Fry for about 30 seconds. Add the cooked chicken. Dump in the sauce. Bring to a boil while stirring. It's going to thicken up all of a sudden... as soon as it's kind of a thick gel and steamy it's done. If you want to add broccoli or other veggies, add at the same time as chicken. I run the broccoli under warm water (if it's frozen) so it's at room temp before I put it in.
Still working on the Hawaiian chicken disaster....