Creative Cooking…General Tso's Chicken

I seemed to have found a true liking to cooking and eating Asian type dishes, that I would normally only get from the Chinese restaurants. However, making them yourself is quite fun. I was perusing the internets and found a recipe for General Tso’s Chicken from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen.

Ingredients: as adapted from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen: www.sweetpeaskitchen.com

 1/2 cup garlic hoisin sauce

 1/4 cup white vinegar

 3 tablespoons soy sauce

 3 tablespoons sugar

 2 tablespoons cornstarch

 1 1/2 cups water

 1 1/2 pounds (about 4) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

 2 tablespoons of minced garlic

 1 tablespoons powdered ginger

 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

For Frying:

 1 1/2 cups cornstarch

 1/2 cup all purpose flour

 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

 4 cups vegetable oil

 1-2 green onions, thinly sliced

 1 teaspoon white sesame seeds

Combine your hoisin sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch and water. Salt and Pepper your chicken pieces and allow it to sit in the fridge for an hour or overnight. Then in a saucepan combine your sauce and add your garlic and ginger until fragrant. You sauce will thicken.

To fry your chicken, I veered away from Sweet Pea’s recipe by only coating my chicken with the cornstarch, flour and soda. I fried them until golden brown and drained on a paper towel.

Once frying is completed I used my warm sauce to coat the pieces thoroughly and served with brown rice, garnished with sesame seeds and green onions.

Verdict: Amazing. It looked and tasted fantastic. The flavor was superb.