Admit it, there are times when most of us get a hankering for Chinese food, even the unabashedly Americanized stuff, and a quick run to your favorite dive (or upscale Chinese food emporium) just isn’t in the cards.
We’ve found the last few years that, due to living out in the sticks, our homespun versions of most of our favorite Chinese food is far better than what we have available to us locally – this version of General Tso’s Chicken is easy peasy, quick to stir together (relatively), and doesn’t call for any wildly unusual ingredients for we home kitchen warriors to scrape together.
This version has been scaled down to feed two hungry folks; the recipe easily scales to feed any number you need. Surprisingly the trick of dusting the chicken with cornstarch, while an oldie, is indeed a goodie and works like a charm.
And try the sauce as written, though it’s easy a pie to adjust the heat or any particular flavor you want to bring out in the sauce (the boss likes it with a little more garlic and ginger…). By the way, this is made to pour over/alongside rice, but of late we’ve taken to enjoying with quick (oven) roasted broccoli or green beans; damn, are they tasty.
Even better, with the chicken cut up and sauce ingredients mixed ahead of time, this one can be done at riverside, in camp, or on the road trip picnic table in no time…
1 lb skinless boneless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
3 tbsp corn starch
1 tsp good salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
6 tbsp virgin coconut oil, divided
3 tbsp (scant) good honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 medium garlic clove, grated
2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp (scant) Sriracha
1 tbsp (scant) tomato paste
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated (or more)
8 dried whole red chiles (or more)
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Combine the cornstarch, salt, and pepper in a large bowl; add the chicken and stir/toss to coat well.
Heat 3 tbsp of the coconut oil in large skillet over medium-high heat; cook half the chicken, moving it around a bit, until brown and crispy (6-7 minutes).
While that that’s cooking, stir together the honey, soy sauce, grated garlic, rice vinegar, Sriracha, tomato paste, grated ginger, 1.5 tbsp water, and big pinches of salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.
Drain the first batch of chicken on a lined plate, add another 3 tbsp of coconut oil, and then add the second batch of chicken. After 4-5 minutes, add the chiles and cook for a couple of minutes until the chicken is nicely browned and the chiles have toasted in spots and look puffed.
Now add the sauce mixture to the hot pan, then the first batch of chicken, stir to coat well, and cook until the sauce is reduced and thickened (2-4 minutes).
Serve immediately over rice, or alongside oven roasted broccoli or green beans, sprinkled with the thinly sliced green onions, and go to it.
Enjoy.
