General Tso's Chicken

I love spicy food, I always have, so General Tso's always had a special place in my heart. When I came across this recipe I was very excited. And though the recipe that I use is not the exact recipe I found you can find that recipe here. There are a couple of things in this recipe that I have changed, or added to so that it makes it easier for all of us to complete the dish with as little hassle as possible. Here's my changed recipe.

When I was a child the only other person in the house that enjoyed spicy food was my father, thankfully that has changed! Spicy food can be amazing as long as the heat doesn't take away from the taste of the food. My father died some years ago, I know that he would have loved this food, just like everyone else did! As I was making this food, I thought of my father and all the things that he taught me how to cook, though I think that they most important thing that he taught me was to love what I was doing. Love is what really makes your dish taste amazing, if you don't care about what you are doing then no dish you make is going to come out right.

This dish was actually very easy, and very fun to make. I don't know how many times I thought 'This can't be right!' Starting with the overpowering smell of the vinegar in the sauce mix. But do you know what? You don't smell the vinegar in the dish at all once it is done, and it came out absolutely amazing!

Let me know what you think! I would love to hear about what you had issues with, and what you suggest would make this dish easier to make for everyone!

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General Tso's Chicken:

INGREDIENTS YOU'LL NEED

1lb Chicken thighs cut into 1 inch chunks 1/4 cup cornstarch 1 TBSP ginger, minced 3/4 TSP red chili flakes/Red Pepper Flakes 2 cloves garlic, minced oil for frying For the sauce: 3 TBSP rice vinegar 3 TBSP soy sauce 2 TSP Hoisin Sauce 1/4 cup water 3 TBSP Sugar 1 TBSP cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

Toss the chicken thighs with the 1/4 cup of cornstarch and let it sit while you mix the sauce ingredients.

Add the rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, water, sugar, and TBSP of cornstarch in a small bowel and whisk together.

Grate the ginger, mince the garlic, and add those and the red chili flakes onto a small plate, or bowel, and put them to the side.

Add the chicken to a pan with the oil and fry until crispy. You are not going to be able to fry all of the chicken at once, put as many as you can to the pan without letting them stick together to fry. Take out of the pan when golden brown and put on a paper towel to drain while you are frying the rest of the chicken.

Remove chicken from the pan and drain all but a tablespoon of oil. Add the chili flakes, ginger, and garlic to the oil. Even if you double this recipe only use 1 tablespoon of oil, it's more than enough to saute the ingredients.

Cook until you smell the garlic (about 30 seconds to 1 minute).

Add in the chicken and toss, then add in the sauce.

Stir the mixture until the sauce thickens, this is going to take more than thirty seconds (like the original recipe suggests), I would suggest doing it for at least 2 minutes, or until the sauce actually thickens.

If you aren't cooking anything else then serve immediately. However if you are still cooking other food then turn your oven onto 150 degrees and put the pan in the oven to keep it warm. The longer the chicken sits the more spicy it gets, and the food sitting will NOT take away from the taste or the flavor!

PAIRS WELL WITH

Vegetable Lo Mein, Garlic Green Beans, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Fried Rice, Egg Rolls, Chicken on a Stick