General Tso's Chicken

I saw a tasty looking post for General Tso's Chicken so I saved it knowing I wanted to try it out. I've never heard of this dish before so I looked it up on wikipedia. They claim it's a popular Chinese dish. Really? I love Chinese food so how come I've never heard of this delightful dish? Hubby's apparently eaten it a few times so he was really excited when I told him I was making it for dinner. 

According to wikipedia, General Tso's Chicken is strictly a chicken dish with a little bit of broccoli served on the side. It's typically a sweet and spicy sauce but I couldn't add the peppers since I was serving this to my kids, too.

I love veggies with my meals and it's easier to get the fam to eat their veggies when they're all chopped up and mixed in with sauce.

I'm sure the General wouldn't mind a little veggies in his dish. :)

The fam really loved this dish. It was a very sweet sauce so my portion had crushed red peppers and a dash of red chili oil to spice things up.

OH MY! This was freakin' fantastic!

Pretty darn good for my very first Chinese dish.

General Tso's Chicken

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 7-8 tbs cornstarch
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
• sesame seeds for garnish, optional
• 3 green onions for garnish, chopped

sauce: this makes a lot of sauce...perfect for us as we LOVE sauces!

• 1/3 c hoisin sauce
• 1/3 c ketchup
• 1/3 c rice vinegar
• 1/3 c soy sauce
• 2 tbs sesame oil
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 3/4 c water
• 2 1/2 tbs fresh ginger, minced (I omitted because I didn't have any)
• 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
• red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

1. Wash and dry chicken breasts and cut into bite-sized pieces.
2. Saute garlic, red bell pepper and onion about 6-8 mins. Set aside when done.
3. In a shallow bowl, combine cornstarch, salt and pepper. Dredge chicken pieces in cornstarch mixture and tap off excess. You can also put the chicken and cornstarch mixture in a large plastic bag or container and shake to coat.
4. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook chicken pieces in batches, using a small drizzle of olive or canola oil to cook each batch.
5. Make sauce by combining all sauce ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Return chicken to skillet and pour in sauce. Don't add all of it if you don't like your food saucy. You can always reserve remainder of sauce for another dish. Stirring occasionally, cook over medium heat until thickened, about 3-6 minutes.
6. Serve with rice and top chicken mixture with sliced green onions and sesame seeds. Add red pepper to taste.

NOTE: The next time I make this, I'll used grilled chicken cut it into bite-sized pieces and then saute it in the sauce. That will make it a little healthier. :)

UPDATE: 2/18/10 I marinated chicken thighs overnight using General Tso's sauce for my Bunco group. I grilled the chicken, covered with foil and kept it warm in the oven until the group was ready to eat. The use of thighs kept the chicken super moist. My friends really enjoyed this chicken.

Source: Adapted from My Muffin Thursdays