General Tso's Chicken

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Raine

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General Tso's Chicken


Ingredients
1 large Egg, beaten
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. ground white Pepper
2 tablespoons Cornstarch
1-1/2 pounds Chicken legs and thighs
1 cup cornstarch
3 1/2 cups peanut or cooking oil
8 small dried hot Chili Peppers
1/2 cup Scallion, finely sliced
Sauce:
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1-1/2 tsp. Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. fresh Ginger, minced
2 Tbsp. Hoisin Sauce
3 tsp. Sugar
3 tsp. Rice Vinegar or distilled white Vinegar
2 tsp. Rice Wine or dry Sherry
2 Tbsp. Cornstarch



Method


Skin and debone the chicken, removing all visible fat and membranes. Cut into 1 inch chunks.

In a bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients, mix well, then cover and set aside.

In another bowl, add the egg, salt, and pepper, and 2 tablespoons cornstarch and mix until smooth. Add the chicken, mix until coated well, then cover and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Place oil in a wok or deep frying pan and heat over high heat until very hot.

Meanwhile, spread 1 cup cornstarch over bottom of small cookie sheet or similar pan. Using tongs, remove the chicken chunks from the marinade one at a time, dropping them onto the cornstarch, then rolling around until completely dusted. When all pieces have been dusted and oil is hot, carefully drop pieces into the oil and deep-fry for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes until chicken is browned and crisp. Turn off heat, remove chicken pieces and drain in a strainer over a suitable bowl.

Pour off all but 1-1/2 tablespoons of oil from the wok or frying pan and turn heat to high. As soon as oil starts to smoke (about 30 seconds), add the peppers and stir fry for about 20 seconds. Add the scallion and stir fry for an additional 30 seconds. Add the chicken and stir fry for 1 minute. Stir the sauce mixture and pour into the wok or pan. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and the pieces of chicken are completely coated.

Turn off the heat, remove to a serving dish and enjoy with rice and Chinese vegetables.

Serves 4 to 6.
 
Finally cooked this tonight. It ROCKED, I was especially happy with how crispy my nuggets of thigh meat ended out. My only one 1 prob is that my sauce was REALLY dark but that was my fault. First of all aparently all my light soysauce disapeared over the course of a week (I think one of my roomies drinks it out of the bottle... it's the only explanation!) so I had to use a very dark and smoky soysauce I reserve other uses and I didint have any hoisin so I used a couple of spoons of black bean paste (the tarlike stuff) so It ended up very dark and rather thick, althought the flavor was about right.

Thanks again for sharing this recipy!
 
RAINEE, i love you. I am going to make this tomorrow.

Lugaru, isn't the sauce usually dark anyway?
 
I'm sure I've ate Hoisin Sauce in some of the Chinese I've eaten over the years. However, I dont have a clue how it would taste by itself. (Who wants to eat it by itself:p )

Does any one have a substitute for it?

I'm sure I could find it in the Oriental food section at my local market.

Thanks,
Charlie
 
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