Thursday, November 13, 2008

General Tso's Chicken

General Tso's Chicken, is actually an American creation. It is a sweet deep fried chicken dish served in American Chinese restaurants and also very popular at the buffet line. Regardless of its origin, this is an easy dish to make at home without the gloppy sauce and soggy thick breading that you get from the take out place and you don’t have pay the expensive price for it.

Ingredients :
1 pound chicken meat cut into large chunks
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp white pepper
1 egg white
3 tbsp of cornstarch
1 tbsp of oil
4 green onions – cut into thin strip
6 dry hot peppers – cut into ½” length
1 tbsp of chopped ginger
2 cloves of garlic - chopped

Sauce:
2 tsp of cornstarch
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp of sugar (more or less depend on the sweetness you like)
4 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp of white vinegar
2 tbsp of cooking wine
3/4 - 1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp of pepper

1. Mix all the sauce ingredients and set it aside for later use.
2. In separate bowl, mix chicken, soy sauce and white pepper. Set it aside to marinate for 30 minutes. Stir in egg white and add in the cornstarch and mix until chicken pieces are coated evenly.
3. Add the 1 tbsp of oil to the chicken as this will help to separate chicken pieces. Deep fry chicken until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Remove all the oil from the pan and leave about 1 tbsp.
4. Stir-fry garlic, ginger and peppers until fragrant. Stir sauce adding to wok. Bring it up to a boil and when sauce thickens add in the chicken. Stir and toss until chicken pieces well coated with sauce. Add in the spring onions.
5. Dish out and serve with warm rice.

23 comments:

Nazarina A said...

May I do a David Copperfield and make your General's Tso's chicken appear on my dining table?

Beachlover said...

Gert,your Tso chicken look good! I also post Tso chicken for Eliot last week,not yet post! I like yours,wt dried pepper!! Mine have to omit bcoz of him!

Christelle said...

I'd never heard of this dish before! It looks beautiful, I feel like tasting it now!!

Debbie said...

Looks delicious and I love this chicken dish. Glad to have a recipe for it now!!!

Finla said...

Super delicious. I ams sure if all of us make this delicious chicken the chinese take away place will go broke :-)
Bookmarking them.

Anonymous said...

I was thinking about getting this for takeout tonight from our local joint, but now I think I'll just make my own! I even have all the ingredients! Thanks!

~ Peggasus

Anonymous said...

I have never tried this dish .....

Little Corner of Mine said...

Looks good! I like this dish too even though it's Americanize.

ICook4Fun said...

Nazarine, I wish I am DC too as I wanted the dishes you cook to appear on my dinner table :)

Lesley, actually this dish is not spicy at all. I have to add more of the dried chili the next time I cook it again.

Christelle, thank you. I think you can find this dish only in America. Maybe you can cook some for yourself there in France :)

Debbie, hope you like it.

Happy Cook, I always think cooking it yourself is much healthier than the take out. Do let me know how your dish turn out :)

Peggasus, let me know how your dish turn out :)

Cookinghut, this is an American Chinese dish :)

LCOM, I find the out from the take out place very sweet.

Cat Cat said...

Gert,
That's the only chinese Robert would eat - General Tso's Chicken. No Malaysian in Malaysia would know what G Tso's is... I didn't until I came to USA.

Hana Choi said...

I just had dinner, but am tempted to eat another round -- this looks so tasty!! Thanks for sharing :)

Tastes of Home said...

wow your version definitely looks much better! LOL yeah I was a little surprised at such a dish when I came to the US :)
thanks for the recipe tho, sounds good

Jaya M said...

Ah! these are absolute yum ...
Now take aways can wait for long LOL...
hugs and smiles

Jescel said...

so who is general tso?? lol. regardless of who he is, his chicken is surely goood! hmmmn.. will bookmark this when my take-out craving appears, then i know what to do! :o)

Anonymous said...

general tsos is my husband's FAVORITE! Another starred recipe! Thanks!

vanillasugarblog said...

One of my take out favorites. You did a perfect job here. Much healthier than the take out version.

Meg said...

What a wonderful dish! The sauce sounds amazing!

tigerfish said...

Hv not tried this General's chicken before though it seems popular in the US.

gaga said...

You did a beautiful job, it looks just like a restaurant's!

ICook4Fun said...

Cat, I too learned about this dish only when I came here :)

Chicky, you are most welcome.

Taste of Home, you only find this dish in America and no where else :)

Jaya, ha ha....

Jescel, google for him :)

Katie, hope you cook some for you husband soon :)

Dawn, I find the one from the take out place had too much flour on the chicken :)

Meg, thank you.

Tigerfish, yea is really popular here.

Gaga, thank you.

Christelle said...

I shall try indeed! :)))

Anonymous said...

Most Chinese restaurants use Oyster Sauce instead of sugar.

Anonymous said...

My Wife and I always had to go to the Restaurant to get a taste of this General Tso Chicken you cant go wrong with it.


Thank you for posting this because we can now make our own at the house for guests and have a great time!!