General Tso's Chicken

Nearly everyone who orders take-out from our local Chinese place gets this dish. I think that's probably true a lot of places. It's not particularly authentic (RHI it's not from China at all). It's like salty sweet chicken candy with a little bitter veg to cut the cloyingness of it all.

When I realized I liked this a whole lot better than was actually sustainable for me, we came up with this version. With low sodium chicken broth (30-50 mg in the broth, if you buy the right kind), and the soy sauce kept to a minimum (make sure you use unseasoned rice vinegar and wine!), you can keep a serving to under 400 mg as long as you don't eat more than a third of the resulting dish. Which is a reasonable limit. I don't salt my rice, either.

The batter is optional; it takes just as good to me, and almost as good to R. without. Stir-fry the chunks unbattered if you decide to skip it.

Combine in a bowl:

1 beaten egg
about 1/2 Cup cornstarch

Chop, batter in above mixture, then deep-fry or stir-fry one package chicken thighs.

Combine in a small bowl:

1 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs rice vinegar
1/4 Cup rice wine, sherry, sake or wine
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 Cup chicken broth
the green parts of 3 chopped green onions
chili peppers to taste (or you can add this at the table)

You can thicken the sauce with 2 tsp cornstarch.

Steam: broccoli florets, or other vegetables. I like snap pea pods.

Briefly stir-fry:

1 Tbs chopped ginger
1 Tbs chopped garlic
the white parts of 3 chopped green onions

Pour the sauce over the fried chicken and stir-fry for a couple minutes.

Serve the chicken over the broccoli over rice. Optionally drizzle with sesame oil.

Created April 27, 2008
Updated July 22, 2013