Who says your kitchen can't be your go to spot for (MSG-free hopefully) Chinese take-out. Break out your chop sticks, plug in that rice cooker, and in under 30 minutes you'll have a sweet and savory dinner on the table so good, you'll wanna change your name to General Tso.
Chinese Honey Chicken
Adapted from BlogChef.net
Ingredients
1 1/2 pound skinless chicken breasts or thighs (cut into 1 inch cubes) OR small chicken drumsticks and wings
Batter Ingredients
1/4 cup rice flour (all purpose works too)
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
good pinch of salt
1/2 cup seltzer (soda water)
1 egg white
1 whole egg
Honey Sauce Ingredients
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup good honey
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil (canola works fine)
1 teaspoons cornstarch (mixed with 1 teaspoon water)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 teaspoons minced ginger
pinch of salt
toasted sesame seeds
sliced scallions
Instructions
1. In large bowl, mix batter ingredients together until smooth, and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
2. Batter chicken then fry in large skillet over medium heat with 1 inch of vegetable oil until chicken is browned on all sides, about 3-5 minutes for each small batch of chicken bits, but 10-15 minutes for chicken drumsticks and wings.
3. Remove fried chicken and place on paper towel covered plate to drain excess oil, salt lightly while still hot, then allow to cool while making sauce.
4. In a medium sized pan, add canola oil and saute ginger and garlic over medium heat for about 3 minutes.
5. Add water, honey and vinegar and cook for about 2 minutes, then add cornstarch slurry mixture. This will act as a thickening agent to make the sauce more viscous.
6. Stir over heat for 3 minutes then add in chicken and coat evenly with sauce.
You can garnish with pickled radishes, sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds. Some nice adaptions to this sauce would be to add orange sauce in replacement of water, or soy sauce in replacement of the water.
Forget going out, wasting gas and waiting in long annoying lines. Now you have the tools to make take out right at home in your own kitchen, and that's a talent worth sharing.
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