I haven't forgotten my mentor, Julia Child, but Mastering the Art of French Cooking isn't much of a help when you're in the mood for Chinese food! Chinese (and Mexican) foods are some of my favorite dishes so as I expand my culinary abilities I decided to try making one of my favorite dishes -- General Tso's Chicken! I love the slightly sweet taste with its little bit of heat. Before starting to tell you about making this, however, I'm kind of wondering who this General Tso is. Really, have you ever thought about it? He must have been a pretty awesome general to be remembered by a food named after him. Personally, I think having a food named after me would be more cool than having a statue in a park somewhere. Statues stay out in the cold, rain, snow, and sun and are the frequent recipients of "gifts" from pigeons. Compare that to being honored with a food named after you -- you're constantly invited to people's homes for dinner, you get taken out, and everyone loves you!
Who was General Tso then? Zuo Zongtang (General Tso) was a respected Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty, which ruled the country from 1644 until 1912. He played an important role in the Taiping Rebellion, a civil war that was waged in China in the mid-19th century. The interesting thing is that the dish isn't named after General Tso because of his frequent requests for take out. Actually, the Chinese chef who came up with the dish in the 1950's was from the same town as General Zongtang and that was the first name that came to mind when he needed a name for the dish! The story must be true because I read it on the internet! Want a few more details? If so, here's the link to the source on myrecipes.com:
Now, on to cooking the dish! First, here's the ingredient's list:
- 2 lbs chicken breasts or thighs cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 1/4 cup oil for frying
- 2 tbsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp red chili flakes
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp sesame seeds optional for garnish
For the sauce: - 6 tbsp rice vinegar
- 6 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
The real lesson I learned about Chinese dishes like this is the delicate breading used on the meat is corn starch instead of flour or bread crumbs. It works the same way but is a much lighter crispy crust on the meat when fried. Overall I'm finding that I'm using a lot more cornstarch now that I've been making more Asian dishes. Seriously, I'm on my third container in as many months and I think that first container has been in our pantry and moving around with us since we got married about 37 years ago!
The recipe called for chicken thighs but I used breast meat. Everything was sliced into about 1" cubes and then tossed around in the cornstarch until evenly coated and set aside to be cooked. Cutting up the chicken was the longest part of the entire process of prepping and cooking this dish so something I might do in the future is cut up some chicken and freeze it so its ready to go. That would make this a realllllly quick and easy dish to make.
As soon as the chicken was ready to cook it was set aside while I mixed the ingredients for the sauce. The rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce (what's a hoisin? Hmmm, a good question for another post), water, sugar, and the cornstarch were combined and then set aside. It gets to be cooked in the same pan as the chicken once the chicken is ready. Now, back to the chicken!
The oil went into a pan and, when hot, the chicken was cooked until the pieces were golden brown on all the sides. As soon as the chicken was cooked I put in in a mixing bowl while I finished up the sauce. Most of the remaining oil in the pan was drained until there was only about a tablespoon left in the pan into which I added the garlic, chili flakes, and ginger. They were sauteed together for just about 30 seconds to help them get to know each other and to release their flavors. Then came the home stretch as the rest of the sauce ingredients were poured into the pan and brought to a simmer for a couple of minutes until it thickened into an awesome sauce ready for the chicken to hop in.
All that was left was putting the sauce and chicken together and tossing them around until the chicken was evenly coated with the sauce. Of course, you'll want to snitch a few pieces to make sure it is ready but be careful -- you'll need to leave some for everyone else too!
To serve, the chicken went into a serving dish and was sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds as a garnish to add some contrast to the presentation.
This was good. It was really really really good. I know I have to try new things but this is one I'll be making from time to time because it was as good as take-out food. Thanks again General Zongtang, I'll never forget you!
Bon Appetit!
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