General Tso's Chicken

Hi Guys!!

Hope you had a wonderful week?...I sure did!

Yesterday, I went to visit my friend Anna in Bristol. We met at a medical symposium three weeks ago, and just hit it off. She told me that she spent her last summer in Ghana, so it was fun to reminisce about the GH-life, places and of course the food. After the symposium, she invited me over to her place and I promised her a visit. 

We had a fun day together and I guess the most memorable part of the visit for me was the food naturally (#wink). She didn't cook, but ordered some Chinese take -away for us. The food arrived, she dished it and served me.  I almost licked the plate. IT WAS FINGER LICKING GOOD!!... I had to ask what she ordered, and she said its called 'General Tso's Chicken'. 

When I got back, I knew I had to try and re-create it at home, so I started my research. Its a pretty simple recipe, but its got a lot of ingredients and components.  The ingredients are pretty much the same in a lot of the recipes, but I was able to tweak it to my taste.

There are three parts to this recipe. 

First, I had to make the base sauce or brown sauce. This sauce has a lot of ingredients but it is pretty versatile.  I've used it in my stir fry recipes; beef, chicken, vegetable and egg fried rice. It can also keep in the fridge for a while. I kept mine for about three (3) weeks and use it when ever I want. Next was to make the General Tso sauce, which was pretty easy, and finally the chicken has to be seasoned and prepped for frying.

So this is how I made mine.

Ingredients

For the base sauce

• 1/3 cup of oyster sauce
• 2 Tbsp of hoisen sauce
• 1 cup of light soy sauce
• 1/2 cup of cooking wine (I used a regular white wine)
• 2 Tbsp of dark soy sauce
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 Ginger root
• 1 Spring onion (cut into three parts)
• 2-3 Garlic cloves
• 2 cups of heated chicken stock

To make the general tsp's sauce

• 1 Tbsp of sweet chilli sauce (sugar is an alternative)
• 1/2 cup of vinegar
• 1 Tbsp of chilli sauce (siracha)

For the chicken

• 1-2 chicken thighs (chopped into small pieces)
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp of pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup of corn starch
• 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil
• 3 cups of oil for frying

Extras

• 1 Tbsp of chopped garlic
• 1 Tbsp of chopped spring onions
• A wok
• Bowls
• Slurry: 1tsp of corn starch + 1tbsp of water

Instructions

1. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the base sauce and set it aside. The spring onions, garlic and ginger need to infuse for about 30-60 mins. Then they should be removed  with a sieve.

   

   A cup of the base sauce

2. Make the general two sauce by combining all the ingredients together, and set aside.

   

   The vinegar, chilli sauce and sweet chilli sauce

   
   

   

   The General Tso sauce

3.  Take the quantity of base sauce you would need ( I used 1 cup) and combine it with the general tso sauce, mix and set aside.

   

   The base sauce

   
   

   

   Adding the general two sauce to the base sauce

   
   

   

   The combined sauces

4. Chop the extra garlic and ginger and set aside.

   

   The green onion and garlic

   
   

   

   Chopped green onion and garlic

5. Place the chopped chicken thighs in a bowl. 

   

   Chopped chicken thighs

6. Add the salt, garlic powder, pepper, egg, baking soda  and mix very well.

7. 

   Adding salt to the chicken

   
   

   

   Pepper added

   
   

   

   Garlic powder added

   
   

   

   An egg added

   
   

   

   The baking soda added

   
   
8. Cover the bowl with cling film, and place in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes.
9. Remove the chicken from the fridge, add the corn starch and mix well. Then add the 2 tbsps of vegetable oil and mix well. This would help make the batter smooth.

   

   Adding the corn starch into the mixture

   
   

   

   Adding the oil to the corn starch mixed chicken

   
   

   

   The oil mixed into the batter

10. Place the pot of oil on the stove and allow it to heat up.
11. Add the chicken pieces one by one, using a toothpick into the hot oil (carefully) and allow it to fry for about 4 minutes. Then remove and drain on a kitchen towel.

    

    Placing the chicken pieces into the pot of oil

    
    

    

    Frying the chicken 

    
    

    

    Check out the beautifully smooth coating on the chicken

    
    

    

    Removing the pieces from the oil after 4 minutes

    

    Chicken placed on kitchen towels to allow the oil drain off

12. Place the wok on fire, and add about 2 tbsps of oil into it. Now add the chopped garlic and spring onions and sauté for a bit (don't allow it to burn kinda like mine did).

    

    Spring onions and garlic in the wok

13. Now add the general Tso's sauce into the wok, and allow it to heat up. Add the slurry, stir and allow the sauce to thicken bait before adding the chicken pieces.

    

    Adding the general Tso sauce into the wok

    
    

    

    Making the slurry

    
    

    

    The sauce is beginning to thicken

14. Coat the chicken pieces with the sauce and remove from the heat. 

    

    Adding the chicken into the sauce 

    
    
    
    
    

    

    Chicken coated in the sauce

15. Now serve. 

    

    Removing the chicken from the wok into a plate

Tips

1. Most of these ingredients can be found in your local Asian market or supermarket, and are relatively in-expensive.
2. Try to ensure the garlic doesn't burn in the wok.
3. The quantity of ingredients you use in the chicken depends on the quantity of chicken you would be using, so make it according to your taste.

If you do try this recipe out, don't forget to hashtag #eleanorzkitchen so I could see how yours turns out.

Chocolate Molten Larva Cake

Hi Guys!! 

I'm making something extra special today. 

There's this guy my friend Maria fancies, and he is coming over to our flat this evening. She really wants to impress him with a home cooked meal, but certainly doesn't want to spend all day in the kitchen, so she asked for my help. In the true nature of friendship, I was willing to. 

I decided we would make some homemade pasta for the main course and a molten larva cake with toffee ice-cream for dessert. Both are really romantic meals plus they are also easy to make, and we could just do most of the prep work before he arrives. She could then put the finishing touches to the meals in his presence #wink.

So here's what we made:

Ingredients

• 130g dark chocolate
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120g of butter
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1/3 cup of flour
• A pinch of salt

Other things required

• 2 Ramekins (or muffin moulds/ moi-moi cups)
• A knob of butter
• 2 bowls
• An oven pan
• A whisk
• 1 Tbsp of cocoa powder

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Crack two eggs into a bowl, add the icing sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Mix well until the sugar dissolves.

   

   Adding the sugar to the eggs

   
   

   

   Eggs, sugar and vanilla incorporated

3. Melt the chocolate and butter together, either in a microwave for 20 seconds or over a pot of boiling water and set aside.

   

   Melted chcocolate

4. Transfer the melted chocolate into the egg mixture, and mix well to combine. It should be light and smooth like a ganache.

   

   Adding the chocolate ingot he egg mixture

   
   

   

   Chocolate incorporated into the egg mixture

5. Now add the flour into the mixture, and gently mix it into the chocolate mixture.

   

   About to add the flour

   
   

   

   Added flour

   
   

   

   Flour incorporated

6. The take your ramekins and grease them with the knob of butter. Then take the cocoa powder and put into the buttered moulds. Run it around until it has coated both ramekins, then set aside.

   

   About to butter the ramekins

   
   

   

   Buttered ramekin

   
   

   

   A teaspoon of cocoa powder into the ramekin

   
   

   

   Coating the buttered ramekins with cocoa powder

   
   

   

   Cocoa powder coated ramekins

7. Carefully transfer your mixture into the ramekins, with a spoon  till it is about 2/3rd of the way ensuring that it doesn't spill. For variety you can place a white chocolate bar into the mixture.

   

   The mixture in the ramekins

   
   

   

   A white chocolate bar added to the mixture

8. Place the ramekins in an oven pan, and place in the preheated oven for  8-10 mins.
9. Once they are done, remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 2 minutes.

   

   Fresh out of the oven

10. Carefully turn them over on a plate. 

    

    Carefully turning it over

    
    

    

    Out of the ramekin

11. Serve with your favourite ice-cream. Break open the cake and see the larva flow....Enjoy! 

Tips

1. The mixture can be placed in the ramekin and left there until your guest arrives. So you can put it in the oven when you're about ready to serve.

Try it out and #eleanorzkitchen