General Tso's chicken
Crispy cornstarch-coated chicken shallow-fried in two quick batches, then tossed in a sweet, spicy and tangy sauce with toasted dried chiles.
- Prep
- 7 min
- Cook
- 13 min
- Serves
- 2
- Per serve
- 1150 kcal
Ingredients
Method
Pour the oil into a wok or 10-inch deep skillet: it should sit about 1/3 inch deep and fill the pan no more than a third. Set it over medium-high heat. While it heats, beat the egg and salt in a bowl and toss the chicken through it, then add the 1/2 cup cornstarch and toss until every piece has a thick, dry-ish coating. In a measuring cup, whisk the soy sauce, vinegar, hoisin, sugar, 2 tsp cornstarch and water.
When a piece of chicken sizzles hard straight away, fry half the chicken, turning, until deep golden, crisp and cooked through. Lift onto paper towels.
Fry the second batch the same way. Meanwhile, heat the rice in the microwave according to the package.
Turn off the heat and carefully pour all but 1 tbsp of the oil into a heatproof bowl to cool. Set the pan back over medium heat and fry the dried chiles, garlic and ginger until fragrant and the chiles darken slightly.
Stir the sauce and pour it in. Let it bubble, stirring, until thick and glossy.
Take the pan off the heat, add the chicken and toss until coated. Serve straight away over the rice, scattered with scallions.
Tips
- Don't crowd the pan: two batches keep the oil hot so the coating crisps instead of going soggy.
- The dried chiles flavor the oil and sauce; eat them only if you like real heat.
- For gluten-free, use tamari instead of soy sauce and a gluten-free hoisin, or swap the hoisin for 1 extra tsp sugar.
