Home and HEARTh

"Home is where the heart is." "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Do you see a theme here? The world may believe love starts in the bedroom, but in actuality it starts, continues and ends in the kitchen. The kitchen is where the exhausted mother may be making a bottle for her baby at 3am; a man anxiously attempts a home cooked meal  to impress a special dinner date; where the creations of love disguised as breakfast, lunch and dinner are created for small and large families alike, and where bereavement luncheons are sympathetically put together to bring comfort to the mourning. There is so much heart in the hearth of a home I just had to create a special section for delicious and nutritious ways to tell your loved ones that they are just that,loved.

General Tso's Chicken

Ingredients

• 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts , cut into chunks
• 2 cups green onions , sliced
• 8 small dried chilies , seeds removed (bird pepper or thai chilies are good)

Cornstarch slurry

• 1/4 cup soy sauce , low sodium preferred
• 1 egg , beaten
• 1 cup cornstarch

Sauce

• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh garlic , minced
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup sherry wine or 1/4 cup white wine
• 14 1/2 ounces chicken broth (a can)

Directions

 

1. Place sauce ingredients in a quart jar with a lid and shake to mix. If you make this ahead of time just refrigerate until needed, shaking it again when you are ready to use it. This also keeps your dirty dishes down.
2. Mix cornstarch slurry in a large bowl- the mixture will be strange but trust me it works. It will be VERY thick almost paste like. Add chicken pieces to coat. Using a fork remove ONE chicken piece at a time and let the excess mixture drip off. YES even though the mixture has a weird consistency it will not stick like paste and the excess will drip off. Add chicken to the hot (350 degree) oil and fry until crispy. Only cook 7 or 8 chicken pieces at a time. You do not want to lower the temp of the oil by cooking too many at a time. You can use a simple cooking or candy thermometer to judge the temp of the oil.
3. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm- I just put them in the oven with the oven off. Repeating until all chicken is fried.
4. In a separate wok or large skillet add a small amount of oil and heat to 400 degrees. Again, a candy thermometer works great. You can fry all the chicken, drain the oil to the desired amount and use the same pan if you like.
5. Add green onions and hot peppers and stir fry about 30 seconds.
6. Stir sauce mixture, and then add to pan with onions and peppers, cook until thick. If it gets too thick, add a little water. The thickness of the sauce should be similar to what you get when ordering this at a restaurant.
7. Add chicken to sauce in wok, and cook until all is hot and bubbly. The quicker this is done the crispier the chicken stays.
8. Serve over rice.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/general-tsos-chicken-164706#ixzz1jDkzt9Xm

**thank you to Food.com**

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