Everyone knows General Tso's Chicken...

Apologies to South Park for ripping off their joke (as I did with Archer in my last post, I sense a pattern).

Anyway this is a slightly modified version of the classic General Tso recipe, as Bacon doesn't like anything too spicy, so this is a milder version that's a bit more of a sweet and sour recipe. It's also a lot more complicated than other recipes I've posted on here so I wouldn't dive into this one if you're a novice. It involves a lot of different cooking techniques and a lot of tasting.

This is the first recipe I ever wrote down. Unfortunately I lost it, which is what persuaded me to create this blog. If the internet looks after it for me then I don't have to worry. Thanks internet. Thinternet.

BUY THESE THINGS TO MAKE YUMMY FOOD

FOR THE CHICKEN
Chicken (breasts or thighs, I used breasts tonight and 2 is probably enough for 2 people)
Eggs (1 egg for 2 chicken breasts)
Tonic Water
Cornflour
Ground Star anise, Coriander, Mustard seeds & ginger (I also like a little ground cinnamon in it)*
Onion Salt, Garlic Granules, paprika, Salt & Pepper*

Incidentally if Asda feel like sponsoring a blog I'm poor and apparently am advertising their shit for free.

*Alternatively you can use one of these seasoning mixes and 5 spice

And a LOT of vegetable oil. Get one of the big bottles, you can reuse the oil after you use it. 

FOR THE SAUCE
Spring Onions
Granulated Sugar
Tomato Puree
Umami Paste (this stuff is great, but a bit of lea and perrins and/or fish sauce will also do the job, however this might leave the sauce a little thin so you may want some cornflour to thicken)
Rice Vinegar
Chinkiang Vinegar (this is also really good for chinese sauces, keep an eye out for it)
Soy Sauce
white wine
Minced Garlic (4 cloves)
Minced Ginger
Tomato Ketchup (this is a massive, but useful cheat)

Also veg. A carrot, half an onion and a red pepper will probably do it. I'm also incredibly fond of Chinese stir fry veg. In particular water chestnuts. I also used baby sweetcorn tonight.

FOR THE EGG FRIED RICE
Rice (I use brown rice for everything but white rice is stickier and probably better for this)
1 egg
Spring onions
Frozen peas

Follow these instructions

You'll probably want to start by cooking the rice. The reason for this is that the colder and dryer it is when you come to stir fry it the better the rice will crisp up and that's what you're aiming for. If you like do it the night before and put it in the fridge.

Next the sauce. Finely chop the onions and mince the garlic and ginger. Pour about 1/4 cup of granulated into a bowl. Chuck in the onions, garlic and ginger and about 2 tablespoons of tomato puree and 2 teaspoons of umami paste. Add a generous splash of rice vinegar, a small splash of chinkiang vinegar and soy sauce and about half a glass of white wine. Mix it all up. It should taste pretty damn good already. But you might need to bulk it out a little and the tomato ketchup does this job well and keeps the consistency about right. About 2 or 3 tablespoons should be enough.

Now set the sauce to one side. Chop the chicken into 1-2 inch cubes. Put them to one side as well while you make the batter. Put about a cup and a half of cornflour into a bowl along with the seasoning. Beat in an egg and gradually add the tonic water a little at the time until you have a relatively smooth batter that is thick enough to cling to the chicken. Add the chicken and coat it evenly.

Get a wok and half fill it with vegetable oil. If you've got a deep fat fryer that's great and you should probably turn it on. And then go and have a good think about why you've got a fucking deep fat fryer in your fucking house. Normal people can put the wok on a high heat. Be careful because cooking with hot oil in these volumes is a bit on the dodgy side.

Once the oil is hot you can start adding the chicken. Fry for about 2 minutes in small batches of 5 or so pieces. With each batch you might want to check one to see how its cooked and then adjust cooking times accordingly depending on your kit etc. Once fried place the chicken on kitchen towel to absorb as much excess oil as possible. While you're frying the chicken you can also prepare the veg.
Once it's all fried you may find you have some excess batter. I chopped up the other half of the onion, added some more plain flour to the batter to thicken it and made some onion pakoras (or bhajis as they're usually known although I'm lead to believe this is incorrect terminology).

with the baconators xmas chutney that she made for hampers last year

Get another wok or large pan and heat up a splash of oil and start frying the veg. Once the onion has softened add the chicken and the sauce. Set on a low heat with a lid on it and simmer it. 

Now for the egg fried rice. Beat an egg with a splash of soy sauce. Microwave the peas for a couple of minutes until cooked and chop up a couple of spring onions. Get another Wok (I don't imagine you have 3, I've got 2 and I think that's excessive) or a frying pan and heat a splash of oil. Add the onions and then the rice and peas. Stir fry for a couple of minutes until the rice starts to crisp up nicely. Stir in the egg and continue to stir fry for another couple of minutes. 

And that's it, ready to serve. I've done this for about 6 or 7 people in the past and it's just as easy to do in large quantities, just increase the ingredients accordingly.

I'm doing a rotisserie chicken tomorrow, so I might even blog that as well. Just to show off the fact that I have a rotisserie oven.