One of my favorite items to order from an Asian restaurant is General Tso's Chicken. If you've never had it, the chicken pieces are battered and fried, then covered in a sauce that is both sweet and spicy. You'll probably find that most recipes call for thigh meat, but I personally use chicken breast - really, it's your call. Either way, make sure the chicken is boneless, and any skin or fat has been trimmed off.
I've found this dish is generally served with broccoli, though I made it with a mix of vegetables as you can see in the image above. Regardless of the vegetable you choose, served it over a bed of rice. You can find the full recipe after the jump.
General Tso's Chicken
1 lb. boneless chicken thighs or breast meat, fat and skin removed
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
Oil for frying (peanut works best, but corn or canola can also be used)
In a large bowl, thoroughly blend the cornstarch and the eggs. Add chicken cubes and mix well. In either a deep-fryer or a large pot, heat oil to 350 degrees and fry the chicken pieces in small batches until golden and fully cooked throughout. Set aside.
Sauce
In a saucepan, mix the following ingredients:
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar (I prefer brown, but white is fine too)
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tbsp crushed red chili pepper
* Note: the heat from the chili peppers comes out as the mixture cooks. You can use more or less depending on your personal taste.
Cook on medium heat until mixture begins to thicken, then add chicken pieces. I like to finish it off on a baking sheet in the oven for five minutes so it caramelizes a bit, but you can serve it at this point if you want to skip that step.
Serve with rice and steamed or stir-fried vegetables of your choice.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-18-2007 @ 1:49AM
Tony Dion said...
I love ordering this too, in fact I got some last week. I wish I had read this first, as I would have liked to have tried making it, especially with the breast meat. I prefer white meat so I'm sure that would make it that much better. Thanks and keep up the good work!
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2-18-2007 @ 2:51AM
Cathy said...
Yeah, my favorite and I now live in a country with horrible chinese/asian food restaurants. Now I just need a recipe for Orange Beef for my dh and I'm set!
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2-18-2007 @ 8:26PM
Scott said...
I made this tonight. Saw the post and HAD TO HAVE IT.
Pretty easy and tasty. Thanks for sharing.
http://sseichinger.blogspot.com/2007/02/ahh-10-shun.html
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2-18-2007 @ 8:52PM
Charlotte said...
I tried this recipe for dinner tonight, but must admit that I found 1 Tbsp of crushed red pepper to be way too spicy for me. I was hoping to be able to taste some of the sweet and savory, but all I got was heat. Maybe a tsp next time... but there will be a next time.
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2-19-2007 @ 12:20AM
Blair said...
Wow!
Unnecessarily harsh, and totally pointless, personal attacks are uncalled for!
If you don't like the blog, or the bloggers, read something else!
As for me, I think the recipe sounds good , and will probably try it!
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2-19-2007 @ 3:16PM
Brian said...
Choke and die? yeesh...
You stay classy San Diego.
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2-25-2007 @ 8:41PM
stinkybob said...
And thanks for stopping by...
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2-27-2007 @ 10:15AM
seoulman said...
But mainly stay classy.
Jason lighten up dude. However I will concur that the first line about going to their favorite asian restaurant did concern me. I've never seen General Tsao's at a Korean, Indian, Japanese, Thai, or Vietnamese restaurant. It's pretty much a chinese thing and most likely a chinese american thing. My concern, its not even that strong of a feeling, is that lumping things so broadly really lessens the cuisine. Who's trumpeting that Taco Bell is the shining example of Mexican cuisine? In the same way lets not generalize asian cuisine when we can differentiate it properly.
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2-27-2007 @ 11:28AM
jill said...
#10...good post but what if Chinese is her favorite Asian cuisine and if, as she posted General Tso's Chicken is her favorite dish....is there something wrong with that?
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2-27-2007 @ 10:23PM
seoulman said...
Thanks for stopping by.
There's nothing wrong with General Tsao's. I'm Korean and back in my single days, when I would eat out more, that was my dish for testing a "chinese" restaurant. I use the term loosely b/c most chinese restaurants are serving less than authentic dishes to satisfy, their customers. (Nothing wrong with that, you got to pay the bills) My issue was why not just call it a Chinese Restaurant. Her quote is "One of my favorite items to order from an Asian restaurant", like I said, find any other Asian Restaurant that serves GT other than a Chinese one. I would hope her palate is distinguished enough to differentiate chinese from japanese (although most japanese restaurants are run by chinese people but that is another story). All I'm saying give cuisine it's due from where it's from. It would be like saying, fish and chips, duck a la orange, paella and schnitzel is all part of that European cuisine. Anyway, it's not that big of a deal to me.
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7-24-2007 @ 1:02AM
Tony Dion said...
The saying you are what you eat may be the issue here. It's obvious that Jason has been eating too much jerk chicken, breast, thigh or otherwise. Or maybe hotdogs, as well all know that they are made of lips and ASSHOLES. Jason, you are a premiere jerk-off asshole and your comments are not appreciated here. Do Joanne or Bob go to your job and tell you how to clean the Mc Grease traps? I hope you choke on your authentic Chinese food and die you pompous pretentious ass.
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3-04-2008 @ 8:27AM
Jason said...
tried it, loved it, cook it all the time now...thanks :0)
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3-04-2008 @ 8:29AM
Jason said...
By the way im a different Jason to the one you guys are calling an A**e hole... HONEST im from the UK
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