My mom and I both love this, so here I am making it for her for Mother's Day. Awe, aren't I a sweet son?
General Tso
Sauce/marinade: SEE INSTRUCTIONS
3 T soy sauce
1 T hoisin sauce
1 T rice wine vinegar
2 t sambal (chili paste, sub siracha if needed)
1 t sesame oil
3 T brown sugar
1 T corn starch
¾ c chicken stock
10 oz chicken cut into 1 inch cubes
Batter: SEE INSTRUCTIONS
6 T corn starch
4 T AP flour
¼ t salt
¼ t baking powder
7-8 T COLD soda water
½ c corn starch for dredging
2 T oil
2 t grated ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
½ t red pepper flakes
Place the batter dry ingredients in a bowl and place bowl in fridge. Mix the first 5 sauce ingredients and remove 2 T and reserve, add remaining sauce ingredients to remaining liquid, whisk and set aside. Stir the 2 T reserved sauce into the chicken and stir, marinate in fridge for 30 minutes. Place enough oil in a pan or wok to deep fry the chicken. Heat to 350°F. Mix the soda water into the dry batter ingredients and cold bowl. Do not over mix. Dredge chicken in corn starch and dip in batter. Fry in batches (this should be 3-4 batches worth of chicken) of 7 – 8 pieces and move to a cooling rack. You will need to add small amounts of soda water to batter to loosen it up slightly as you go. Now would be the time to start a pot of rice if you were serving over rice. Let chicken cool for 20 minutes. Turn heat up until oil reaches 390°F. Cook chicken again for 90 seconds this time in only 2 batches. Immediately but safely, pour off excess oil leaving 2 T in wok or pan. Add ginger, garlic and pepper flakes and stir for about 30 seconds, then add sauce (if pepper seeds start popping, add sauce early). Stir until thickens. Shut off heat and add chicken tossing to coat. Serve immediately, you worked so hard to make chicken crispy, do not let it get soggy sitting in the sauce.