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General Tso's Chicken

@arecipe.bsky.social

General Tso's chicken (Mandarin: Zuo Zongtang ji in) is a popular battered-chicken recipe in Chinese-American restaurants, allegedly hailing from Hunan province in China. However, the stories of the recipes heritage involving Zuo Zongtang (General Tso) are probably apocryphal, and it is more likely to be a dish based on similar Hunanese recipes, invented to please the American diner. Nonetheless, it is tasty and easy to prepare.

Total 00:15
Yield 4

Ingredients

  • 750 g (1.65 lb) raw chicken dark meat, boneless and skinless.
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • Seasoning to taste
  • 2–3 tbsp cornstarch, or as needed
  • 700 ml (3 cups) oil to deep fry, or enough oil to shallow-fry
  • 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp red Shaoxing rice wine
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp chicken stock or water
  • 1 tbsp finely-chopped ginger
  • 1 tbsp crushed and minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch (to thicken sauce; optional)
  • 4 spring onions, chopped
  • 1 tbsp chopped dried chile peppers

Instructions

  1. 1
    Cut the chicken into 2 cm (¾ inch) cubes.
  2. 2
    Beat the egg, light soy sauce, and seasoning in a bowl.
  3. 3
    Add the chicken pieces to the egg mixture, and stir in the cornstarch to thicken the mixture.
  4. 4
    Mix the sauce ingredients in another bowl and set aside until needed. Stir out any lumps.
  5. 5
    Heat the oil in a wok (if deep frying, aim for 180°C or 350°F).
  6. 6
    If deep frying, fry the pieces of battered chicken a few at a time until crispy (around 3 minutes). If shallow-frying, fry until the chicken is cooked and the batter is golden. Remove excess oil from the chicken pieces after frying.
  7. 7
    After frying the chicken, empty and wipe clean the wok. Add 2 tbsp oil back to the wok, and return to the heat.
  8. 8
    Fry the spring onions and chili peppers together for about 30 seconds.
  9. 9
    Add the chicken pieces back to the wok, and stir fry with the vegetables until browned.
  10. 10
    Stir sauce and add to wok. After the sauce comes to a boil, cook for about 1 minute or until sauce thickens. The exact time will depend partly on how much cornstarch you added.
  11. 11
    Remove from heat and serve immediately.
Category
Entree/Main
Method
Frying
Cuisine
Chinese

Recipe Attribution

Wikibooks Cookbook
en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:General_Tso's_Chicken