General Tso's Chicken

As promised I bring you General Tso's!  :)   This is one of Mr. Sherry Berry's favorite dishes, so I thought I'd attempt to make it at home, instead of getting PF Changs take out (I'm joking...kinda.)    Soooo... without further adieu, let's get started-

What you'll need:

• 1 packet (1 - 1/4 oz.) Sunbird General Tso's seasoning (found in the Asian section of your supermarket.)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 lb chicken breast chunks or boneless chicken thigh chunks.
• 2 tbsp. oil (I used Canola)
• 1/4 cup sugar (you may use raw sugar or Splenda as substitute)
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce ( I used low sodium version)
• 3/4 cup water
• Fresh vegetables of your choice.  I used carrots and broccoli, since that's what I had on hand in the crisper :)
• 1 cup of rice (I used Mahatma Whole Grain rice)
  

Directions:

Bring 2 cups of water in a saucepan  to a rolling boil.  Add rice and stir.  Turn heat to low temperature, cover, and let rice cook. 

Whisk water, soy sauce,  sugar and seasoning packet together in a bowl  (or in my case, a Pyrex measuring cup) and set aside for later.

Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat.

Coat chicken chunks evenly with flour.  You may use a ziplock bag or bowl (as I did).

When oil is hot in frying pan, carefully place chicken in oil.  

Make sure all pieces are touching the bottom of pan, to insure they brown evenly.

Cut fresh vegetables and rinse them in a collander. Set aside.

Pour sauce mixture in a saucepan and heat on medium until it heats all the way through.  

It may be slightly thicker when heated, due to the sugar added. Once heated, set aside.

Brown chicken on both sides.

Next, add fresh veggies, and cover with lid.  (You may choose to steam your veggies or pan fry them in a 

separate pan.  I chose to cook them this way so that I would have one less pan to clean afterward.)  Let them cook for about five minutes or until slightly tender.

Check your rice;  It should be flurfy by now :)  Flurfy (fluffy)... I just made up that word.  Flurfy...lol

Remove veggies from pan.  Set aside.

Pour sauce over chicken.  Mix well until chicken is fully coated.

And Voila!!! You're all done!  So easy...and now for the taste test:

Another hit!  He likes it!  (So much that he didn't notice the rice he spilled on his tshirt...)

I liked it too;  Very yummy.  I would say the sauce has a slight sweet /garlic-y taste.

I would definately prepare this dish again.  

**Side note:  I actually doubled the recipe because I used a pound and a half of chicken chunks, so that we could have more leftovers for dinner the next day.  If you do this, use 2 packets of seasoning  and double the sugar, water, and soy sauce.

Enjoy,

Sher~