I've been on a mission for the past year, to find the best General Tso's Chicken or Orange Chicken in Austin. For the most part, I'm really a healthy eater. I try to have fresh vegetables with most meals. I've switched from cooking long-grain white rice and jasmine rice to the more nutritious brown or wild rice.
But every now and then, I just crave some cheap, shitty Americanized Chinese food. And few dishes epitomize cheap, shitty Americanized Chinese food like General Tso's Chicken. There's something about that unique breaded texture of the meat, the thickness of the sauce, and that combination of sweet and savory flavors that has me hooked.
Or maybe it's my body saying "you need to eat more greasy stuff and restore balance." I don't know.
At any rate, I've been trying random Chinese restaurants around Austin and seeing how each one's General Tso's Chicken (a.k.a. Orange Chicken) stacks up against the others'. This is all excluding Panda Express, of course. Not to get all Hipster about Chinese food, but they're too mainstream, they lack soul.
Not too long ago, I realized that cooking it on my own isn't very complex. All it takes is a nonstick pan and oil that's hot enough. Plus I already had a semi-authentic Lemon Chicken recipe to work with from my big Chinese cookbook. The final result wasn't quite restaurant quality, but it was surprisingly satisfying.
Ingredients for chicken:
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
- 1 scallion, chopped finely
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp ginger, minced
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup corn starch, or more
- Enough cooking oil for frying
Ingredients for sauce:
- 2 Tbsp juice from a lemon or orange
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil (I used chili sesame oil)
- 3 Tbsp chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp corn starch
Procedure:
1. In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, Shaoxing, chopped scallion, garlic, and ginger. Add the pieces of chicken and toss them to coat it all in the marinade. Cover the bowl, and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
2. When the chicken is done marinating, coat all the chicken with the beaten egg. Coat the chicken with the corn starch, shaking off any excess. I poured the dry corn starch into a sealable plastic bag, added the chicken, and shook it all until everything was coated.
3. Pour the frying oil into a wok or nonstick frying pan, and heat it to medium-high. When it's hot enough, a drop of the egg and corn starch should fry golden-brown within 10 seconds. Add a about 1/2 of the chicken, one piece at a time, and fry them while stirring constantly until they are golden-brown (~4 minutes). Remove the cooked chicken with tongs or a wire-sieve, and repeat with the remaining chicken. I lay out the cooked chicken on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
4. When all the chicken is done cooking, drain out the oil and carefully wipe the frying pan dry. Reduce the heat to medium and let the pan cool a little bit. Mix all the sauce ingredients very well, and add the mixture to the pan. Let it cook while constantly stirring until it's thickened. Return the chicken to the pan, and lightly toss it in the sauce.
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