Title: General Tso's Chicken (Marius Kirschner)
Categories: Szechwan
Yield: 1 Servings

4		Chicken legs; skinned & cut into six pieces each
2		Egg whites
2	ts	Cornstarch
1	tb	Rice vinegar
1	tb	Light soy sauce
1	tb	Rice wine
1	ts	Sugar
1	ts	Cornstarch; mixed with 1 tsp water
1/2	c	Peanut oil
3		Dried red chili peppers
1		Scallion; chopped (separate white & green parts)
1	sm	Knob fresh ginger; minced
1		Garlic clove; minced
2	ts	Sesame oil

Here's a couple of recipes for Gen. Tso's Chicken and a hint on how to get pro results. Can't vouch for them as I've never made the dish. These are reposts from other folks. Vigorously blend egg whites and cornstarch; add chicken pieces and toss to coat. Heat oil in large wok and add chicken pieces in batches, cooking each until golden, about 3 minutes, then draining. Pour off all but 1 TB of hot oil from wok. Add peppers and stir-fry for 15 seconds; add green scallion, minced ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 15 more seconds. Add mixture of vinegar, soy, wine, and sugar, stirring until heated through. Add cornstarch and water mixture and stir until mixture is thickened. Off heat, stir in sesame oil, garnish with scallion greens, and serve. NOTE FROM ALAN CLAVER: Just made my bi-monthly batch of General Tso's Chicken. I've been trying for many months to get it to come out just like in my favorite Chinese restaurant but couldn't. Well, I recently read about the double frying method of cooking and thought I'd try it - Yippee! that's what we missing. What you do is deep fry the chicken pieces once, then put them aside for a bit and reheat the oil. Then, fry them a second time. This really gives them extra crispiness and flavor. You couldn't tell this batch from a professional version (umm. . modesty aside 8-)). Posted by Stephen Ceideburg December 18 1990.

Posted to MM-Recipes Digest V4 #3

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