This is a San Francisco Chinese recipe that is not seen at all in
Australian restaurants or takeaways. The correct balance of the
sauce is the key. Difficult to describe but one thing is, it is not a
sweet and sour. More like a nutty vinegary taste. A good kick from
the vinegar with a mellow after taste. The right amount
of sesame oil and vinegar are what you need to focus on. The knarly
crispy coating is a requirement. To get this correct it should be
like a dry crumbly shortcrust mix with a significant amount of moist
lumpy bits. You need to strongly press the coating onto the chicken.
The addition of strong alcohol spirits to any batter mix helps
increase its crispiness. Mainly because the alcohol evaporates from
the batter within moments of it hitting the hot oil. Good trick. I
actually use Moutai (which is overproof chinese rice spirit. Like a
strong Sake) but you can use overproof vodka at much lessor cost.
Not that any alcohol is cheap these days. Nobody can afford to be a
smoker and drinker anymore. Don't we all just love the do gooders
looking after us. So kind of them to tax us into submission.
Ingredients
1 Egg white
30ml Soy sauce
30ml Rice wine
30ml Vodka
30ml Chicken stock
1/4 tsp Baking soda
3 Tbs Potato Flour
450g Chicken thigh fillets (diced)
75g SR flour
75g cornflour
Dash salt
75ml Soy sauce
60ml Rice wine
60ml Red wine vinegar
60ml Chicken stock
60g Sugar
15ml sesame seed oil
1 Tbs Potato Flour
2 Tbs peanut oil
2 Cloves garlic Finely chopped
1 Tbs ginger Finely chopped
4 Shallots Minced (firm green part)
2 Red chilies Finely chopped
4 Shallots (white parts only) Sliced
Deep Fry oil. it.
Sesame Seeds
Method::
MBeat the egg whites in a large bowl till foamy. Add soy sauce, rice
wine, vodka, baking soda and potato flour. Whisk to combine. Add the
diced chicken. Set aside at least 1 hour or a day.
Combine the soy sauce, wine, vinegar, chicken stock, sugar, sesame
oil and potato flour in a small bowl.
In a small saucepan with a little oil gently cook the garlic, ginger, green
shallots and chillies for 5 min. Add the sauce mixture. Adjust
Potato flour to get the correct syrup consistency. Cook 10
minutes. Adjust vinegar - soy to taste. Set aside.
Drain the chicken and reserve the marinade.
Combine the SR flour, cornflour and salt in a large
bowl. Add reserved marinade. Mix and crumble to form a coarse,
clumpy mix. Use more flour or water to get the correct crumbly
texture.
Drain the chicken and toss in the flour to coat. Press and roll with
your hands to make sure each piece has a good strong coating.
Deep fry 3 minutes. Drain on a rack.
In a wok heat some peanut oil and add the deep fried chicken, sauce
and long shallot pieces. Toss 30 seconds. Plate ans sprinkle with
sesame seeds.
Serve immediately with rice.
General Tao's Chicken
5 Star Chinese Chicken