General Tso's chicken

We've tried several Chinese food recipes at this house (Robert loooooooooooves soy sauce), but this one from Tasty Kitchen is the most successful one so far.  I assume it's the cornstarchy mixture that the chicken gets covered in, because it creates a perfect coating and texture once it's fried.  And then there's that sauce... seriously, this is so, so good.  Try it!

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

FOR THE CHICKEN:

1 ½ teaspoons Toasted Sesame Oil

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 egg white

¼ cups plus 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken (original calls for chicken thighs, I used chicken breast)

Canola or vegetable oil, for frying

FOR THE SAUCE:

1 Tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons fresh ginger root, minced

1 cup chicken broth or stock

¼ cups soy sauce

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon Chinese chile-garlic sauce

3 Tablespoons raw (turbinado) sugar

4 scallions, thinly sliced

White or brown rice, for serving

Instructions:

Prep your chicken:
In a mixing bowl, stir together the sesame oil, soy sauce, egg white, and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch until a thick slurry forms. It will look gummy but smooth.

Add the chicken pieces and stir until all are evenly coated. Set chicken aside, covered lightly with plastic wrap, at room temperature for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Begin the sauce:
Add the tablespoon of oil to a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat. Stir the garlic and ginger into the oil and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining sauce ingredients until smooth. Pour into the garlic and ginger, stirring, until the sauce becomes thick and shiny. Once the sauce thickens, lower heat and keep the saucepan over a low burner partially covered to stay warm.

To fry the chicken:
Heat 1/2-inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed, high-sided frying pan or skillet over high heat.  When the oil is shimmering, add one piece of chicken at a time, taking care not to crowd the pan. Cook chicken for 4 minutes on each side, or until deep golden brown and crisp on both sides.  Transfer the fried chicken to a paper towel lined plate and repeat the process until you’ve cooked all the chicken.

Then slide all of the fried chicken into the prepared sauce and toss to coat.  Increase the heat to medium, stir and cook just until hot all the way through.  Sprinkle with sliced scallions and serve immediately over rice.

Chicken fried rice

We tried this chicken fried rice recipe from Cooking Light last week. It tasted good, but strayed a bit from typical fried rice (no egg?), which I guess it part of making it healthier considering the source. I subbed green onions for leeks (personal preference, and leeks are so time-consuming to clean), and it was still a hit. I prefer a more traditional fried rice, but this is a good healthy alternative.

Kung pao chicken

Dinner tonight was kung pao chicken from Cooking Light. I halved the recipe and served it over brown rice. Also, we added extra soy sauce to the finished product to make it saucier.

Chicken fried rice

We tried a new chicken fried rice recipe this week, courtesy of Ellie Krieger (Food Network) in the latest issue of Cooking Light. This is an excellent recipe, and I made a few tweaks - 1) I halved the recipe, which yielded 2.5-3 servings; 2) Even though I halved the rest, I used the full amount of the soy sauce mixture... because we like things saucy around here; and 3) we added an egg, because what's fried rice without the egg?? The recipe is below with my edits - this will definitely be a repeat in this house!

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 5

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. less-sodium soy suace
  1 T. dark brown sugar
  1 t. dark sesame oil
  3/4 t. crushed red pepper
  2 T. canola oil
  2 c. diced red bell pepper (about 2)
  1 c. diced onion
  1/4 c. thinly sliced green onions
  2 T. minced peeled fresh ginger
  2 large garlic cloves, minced
  5 c. cold cooked brown rice
• 1 egg, cooked and chopped
  2 c. diced cooked chicken (about 1 lb)
  1 (8-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
  1/3 c. unsalted, dry-roasted peanut, chopped

Preparation

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a small bowl, stir well with a whisk.

2. Heat canola oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, diced onion, and 2 T. green onions to pan; stir-fry for 3 minutes or until tender. Add ginger and garlic; stir-fry 1 minute. Add rice, chicken, and water chestnuts; stir-fry for 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring gently. Add chopped egg, then soy sauce mixture; cook 2 minutes, tossing gently to coat. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons green onions and peanuts.

Crispy Chinese lemon chicken

We tried Rachael Ray's crispy Chinese lemon chicken this week, and loved it! The lemon adds a ton of flavor, and the breading on the chicken gets perfectly crispy. The dipping sauce made way more than we needed, so you could easily half that (we made the full recipe of the chicken and rice, and had leftovers for lunch today).

03.31.09 General Tso's chicken (light)

Dinner last night was Lighter General Tso's chicken from Everyday Food magazine. The advantage of this recipe is that you can satisfy your Chinese food craving more often since it is a lighter version, but it isn't quite the restaurant version when you start cutting calories. Everything in moderation, I guess!