General Tso’s Chicken

Chinese-American dish:

It appears that General Tso’s chicken was probably created by Chinese American’s (in particular those from the Hunan province of China) as recently as the 1960s or 1970s. But it has become a favorite in Chinese restaurants ever since. General Tso (Zuo Zingtang) was truly a general and statesmen from the Qing dynasty (early 1800s). But how his name became associated with the dish remains a mystery. It is probably a case of the original creator of the dish wanting it to sound Chinese to the predominantly American and Chinese American audience. A word to the wise – the dish should be finished in one sitting, because it does not reheat well.

Ingredients (6 servings):

• Meat
• 3 pounds – chicken breast, boneless and skinless – cut into ¾ to 1 inch pieces
• ¼ cup – soy sauce
• 1 – large egg, beaten
• 8 – hot peppers, dried (remove the seeds – see pictures), diced (found in Hispanic section of grocery store)
• 1 cup – cornstarch

Sauce

• ½ cup – cornstarch
• ¼ cup – water
• 2 cloves – fresh garlic, minced
• ¾ teaspoon – fresh ginger, minced
• ¾ cup – sugar
• ½ cup – soy sauce
• ¼ cup – rice vinegar
• ¼ cup – sherry
• 1 ¼ cups – chicken broth
• 3 teaspoons – Thai style chili sauce (found in Asian markets and some grocery stores)
• 5 cups – canola oil (approximately)
• 2 cups – green onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon – sesame seed oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups – rice (cook as desired)

Preparation:

Heat the canola oil in a large frying pan to 350 degrees F.

Canola oil for deep frying

Meanwhile, mix the chicken, soy sauce, egg, and hot peppers in a large bowl. Add the cornstarch and mix to coat all the chicken. At this point it will look like the blob that ate New York City, but don’t panic.

The ugly blob after mixing the meat ingredients

Once the oil is ready, deep fry the chicken pieces in the canola oil until they are golden brown and crispy (see the photo).

Deep frying the chicken

You will have to fry in batches until all the chicken is cooked. Place the cooked chicken on a paper towel to drain.

Fried chicken draining on paper towel

In another bowl, place all of the sauce ingredients and mix well. The sauce can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator. Simply mix well before using.

The hot peppers

Don’t forget to remove the seeds from the peppers

Place the sesame seed oil in a pan over high heat. Pick out any pieces of hot pepper from the bowl you mixed the chicken in.

Green onions and peppers collected from the chicken mix

Add these along with the green onions to the frying pan and sauté for 30 seconds. Stir the sauce and add it to the pan. Keep stirring until the sauce turns to a translucent thickened gel (if the sauce becomes too think you can add water).

The sauce is changing from a light brown to deep brown thickened gel

Add the chicken at this point and cook until the chicken is hot and the sauce is bubbling.

Mixing the chicken into the sauce

Add salt and pepper and serve over the rice. Enjoy!

General Tso’s chicken

J. Botticelli