General Tso's Chicken

I was craving some delicious chinese food and also had the deep fryer ready to go from our pork party which made this recipe seem perfect.  General Tso  (or Gau or Cho or Tsang) Chicken is boneless chicken breaded and fried with a soy base sauce.  Not exactly authentic as it was created in New York City in the 70's.  I wanted to try this recipe from Cook's Illustrated America's Test Kitchen because the recipes are always thoroughly tested and not exactly written by a thankless ghost writer.  I wanted to use chicken breast and have a crunchy chicken, not mystery meat and a gummy mess.  

Marinade and Sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp sugar (I would suggest reducing the quantity based on taste, I found it to be quite sweet)
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cup water

Coating and Frying
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 cups vegetable oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lb, cut into 1 inch pieces)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Mix together the marinade and add 6 tbsp to a zipperlock bag.  Add the chicken and marinate for 30 minutes.

Using the 1 tbsp vegetable oil, saute the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes until fragrant.  Add 2 cups of the marinade and simmer until dark brown and thickened, about 2 minutes.  Cover and keep warm. 

Whisk the egg whites until foamy.  In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the coating ingredients except the oil.  Add the remaining marinade so the mixture is now clumpy.

Coating is in small clumps

This is the best part of this recipe.  The addition of the marinade makes the coating clumpy and will make the chicken really crispy and help it to not get soggy when tossed with the sauce.

Remove the chicken from the marinade.  Discard remaining marinade.  Pat dry.  Toss chicken in the egg whites first, then dredge the chicken in the coating mixture pressing slightly so the mixture will adhere.

Dredged chicken

Heat the oil to 350 degrees and cook the chicken until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Fried goodness!

Toss the chicken in the warm warm marinade until coated.  Serve immediately.

General Tso's Chicken with sauteed pea shoots 

Have I mentioned I am in love with pea shoots?  They are easy to make.  Saute (or use a wok) with garlic and ginger and add a little sesame oil.  Super easy and delicious!

Pea shoots or pea sprouts