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General Tso's Chicken 左宗棠鸡丁

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General Tso's Chicken is not really a Chinese dish, but actually an American creation. It is a sweet deep fried chicken dish served in American Chinese restaurants.

Sauce
  • 250 g Chicken breast, cut into inch dices
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 Egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 tbsp Cornstarch
  • 1 tsp Minced garlic
  • 5 Dried chillies
  • 1 stalk Spring onion, cut into chunks
  • 1/3 Red bell pepper, cut into smaller pieces
  • 50 g Cornstarch for coating
  • Oil for frying
  • 1 tbsp Light soya sauce
  • 2 tsp Rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp Jiafan rice wine (or sherry)
  • 1 tbsp Sugar
  1. Rinse the chicken breast and pat dry with kitchen paper. Cut into the inch dices and place them in a bowl. Add in salt, egg and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Stir until well mixed and set aside for 20 minutes. Mix the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and save for the later use.
  2. Fill a large skillet with enough oil and heat until very hot. Coat the chicken dices with cornstarch and deep-fry until golden and crispy. Drain on paper towels.
  3. Leave a small amount of oil in the same skillet and heat until hot. Stir in garlic, chillies and spring onion chunks. Stir-fry briefly. Return the chicken, bell peppers to the skillet and pour the prepared sauce over. Stir until all well combined. Remove and serve with steamed rice.

89 comments:

Anonymous 2/2/10 19:45

It looks awesome! I would love to have this for my lunch right now!

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Tasty Eats At Home 2/2/10 19:57

Chinese or no, it used to be one of my favorite take-out choices! I can eat your version though - no flour! Saving this to make soon.

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Biren 2/2/10 20:10

I like this dish too with thse spicy dried chillies. Very appetising! Wish I can have some right now.

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Mausi 2/2/10 21:22

This looks really yummy! I like spicy general Tao's chicken. Your look so good with big chunk of dried red chilies!

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Priya Suresh 2/2/10 21:31

Cant take my eyes from the click, fantastic dish..

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pigpigscorner 2/2/10 22:08

This is the second time I've seen this recipe tonight! I really want to try this!

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Kitchen Butterfly 2/2/10 22:12

Looks good....amazing how cuisines round the world reshape to fit taste buds. We now have American-Chinese food, American -Japanese food, Dutch-Indonesian....and the list goes on!

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lisaiscooking 2/2/10 22:47

Looks delicious! I love this American 'Chinese' dish.

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MaryMoh 2/2/10 22:56

Wow....I can imagine the heat and kick from this dish with all those dried chilies. Very delicious. I love it. Anyone who loves spicy food will surely like this dish....straight to cloud 9!

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Namitha 2/2/10 22:59

oh, yes I love this American--Chinese dish :D Thanks for this recipe Angie !

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Sook 2/2/10 23:48

I LOVE General Tso's chicken! This one looks perfect, spicy and sweet at the same time. Yummy! I'll have to make this one night. Thank you.

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chow and chatter 3/2/10 00:07

oh I am starving looking at this looks amazing

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Catherine 3/2/10 00:08

Angie this looks incredible! I remember ordering this for chinese takeout and now I have a recipe to make it myself! Thanks!

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Bob 3/2/10 01:07

This is one of my absolute favorite American/Chinese dishes and it looks amazing! I'm coming over, when are you making it next? ;)

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Christo Gonzales 3/2/10 02:18

angie why do you live so far away - this looks great!

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3 hungry tummies 3/2/10 02:26

You version looks more like the Taiwanese version which is less sweet without the gluggy sauce, my prefered version! Looks very tasty!

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Ju (The Little Teochew) 3/2/10 02:53

WOW!!!! I can't take my eyes off it! It looks amazingly delicious!

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Reeni 3/2/10 03:02

This is one of my favorites, Angie! This looks so much better than take-out. I'm so happy to have the recipe!

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La Bella Cooks 3/2/10 03:52

Now this is something I definitely could go for right about now. Yummy!

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TasteHongKong 3/2/10 05:06

This is really a great dish to go with rice, regardless of its story behind.

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Lyndas recipe box 3/2/10 05:23

This looks wonderful and your photos are beautiful! I love this spicy dish-thanks!

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Zurin 3/2/10 06:30

it looks soooooooo gooddd!!!! i must bookmark! tq Angie.:)

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Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover 3/2/10 06:58

This is simple to prepare and yummy !

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A Full-Timed Housefly 3/2/10 07:56

Delicious ! I love cooking with dried chillies and this dish is quite similar to 宫保鸡丁

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My Little Space 3/2/10 09:23

Ooo..another yummilious recipe! Love this flavour.. a little sweet & spicy. HHmm..mm...

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WendyinKK 3/2/10 09:49

It looks so good with a hot plate of rice.

BTW, the ingredients seem like a Kung Pao chicken dish to me, besides frying the chicken in egg batter.

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Angie's Recipes 3/2/10 10:09

Thank YOU ALL for the replies and supports! :-))
@wendyywy: Szechuan Kung Pao chicken is prepared not only chillies, but also with Szechuan peppercorns, which creates a tingly numbness in the mouth, and General Tso's chicken tastes hot with pleasant sweetness.

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Cheah 3/2/10 10:18

Angie, I'm feeling very hungry right now, it's only 5.17pm. Looks like I've got to prepare dinner early!

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KennyT 3/2/10 10:23

I thought this dish was created in Hong Kong during the British colony era........

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Fearless Kitchen 3/2/10 11:08

My husband loves this dish....

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Divina Pe 3/2/10 11:19

I commented on your curry fish with peas. That comment is supposed to be for this post. :) That's why I was wondering why the dish looks different. Anyway, the dish is incredible. I am missing the taste of those dried chilies in stir fry.

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♥peachkins♥ 3/2/10 12:49

we have the same posts!!!! how exciting!

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wenn 3/2/10 15:03

wow, delicious! thx for the recipe! Btw, the 'sweet award' is for you!

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Finla 3/2/10 15:27

This chicken i love it. I have made them once but this recipe is much more looking delicous. I am sure gonna try this for my next chinese theme dinner party.

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Pei-Lin 3/2/10 18:08

LOL! Well-said! Agreed! I first heard of this when I was in the States! Anyhow, yours looks like the real deal! =)

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Tony 3/2/10 19:58

I absolutely love Generato Tsao's Chicken. Thanks for this recipe!

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Unknown 3/2/10 22:50

Beautiful recipe. The chicken looks really succulent :)
*kisses* HH

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Angie 3/2/10 23:16

Beautiful, I love your photo. I actually didn't like Chinese until I found out all I had eaten before was American Chinese. Now I am in love with real Chinese. We have 1 restaurant here among probably hundreds of American Chinese takeout restaurants that we enjoy, and I make these yummy Chinese American dishes at home.

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Erica 4/2/10 00:21

That is interesting!That was one of my husband favorite dishes in Chinese restaurants.He is a vegetarian now. That looks delicious.

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Katy ~ 4/2/10 01:36

One of my most favorite meals at our local restaurant. I LOVE this. And now to make it at home, I can't wait to to try this!! Thank you soooo much!

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Mrs Multitasker 4/2/10 03:21

Yum yum yum this looks fantastic! I'm definitely bookmarking this to try soon.

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Christine Ho 4/2/10 12:19

This dish is awesome, looks like Kung Pao Chicken with sweet and hot taste. Very tempting!

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Noob Cook 4/2/10 12:46

This is really American, because I haven't seen it in Asia. It looks good!

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Selba 4/2/10 14:59

I definitely can eat the whole plate of this dish with warm rice! *drools*

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Faiza Ali 4/2/10 23:16

I am drooling...lovely click dear...now i know what I am cooking for tomorrow's dinner..Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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Stacie 4/2/10 23:26

This looks delicious! I love General Tso's Chicken

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Anonymous 5/2/10 03:02

I love this chicken dish. So flavourful and delicious.

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Mireya 5/2/10 04:07

My husband and I LOVE general tsao and I'm always looking for a good recipe. This not only looks delicious, but pretty simple to make too!

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My Asian Kitchen 5/2/10 08:09

your G Tso's chicken really look delicious especially the red pepper!! I like your almost dry version!!

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fimere 5/2/10 12:32

toujours des plats aussi délicieux et savoureux
ps: j'ai publié ta recette boulettes syriennes sur mon blog
merci pour cette jolie recette
bonne journée

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ann low 5/2/10 14:57

WOW Angie! You're really a good cook ;D This looks fabulous.

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tasteofbeirut 5/2/10 15:06

Angie
You always pick good recipes! This one is no exception.

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Ivy 5/2/10 20:24

The dish looks so colourful and full of flavour. Funny name, never heard of it before.

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Jennie 6/2/10 17:22

I LOVE General Tso's chicken. G-Tso's Tofu too!
Naughty but sooooo good. Yours looks delicious Angie!

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Janet @Gourmet Traveller 88 6/2/10 18:30

I do not know General Tso's chicken is not a real Chinese dish. I like your big dry chilies there. It's nice to learn another chicken dish.

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Shirley @ Kokken69 7/2/10 16:24

Exactly!! I was really amused when I was in US and found that every Chinese restaurant has this General Tso's chicken on their menu! I don't know how it got there but it was one of the dishes I liked to order when I was eating in the Chinese restaurants there...

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Jo 8/2/10 06:24

Angie, this looks so yummy! I have not tried this recipe yet ... usually we just order kung pao chicken. But this looks less spicy.

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Miranda 10/2/10 02:31

This is my all time fav. dish.
You make it look so simple and delishes.
Love it!

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Anonymous 11/2/10 22:30

thanks for this..tried it last night and it was an absolute success...I added some cashew nuts and some "lap cheong" to the dish as well :)

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Mother Rimmy 3/3/10 15:54

This looks like the perfect weekend dinner. We are trying to eat in a lot more often. Saves money and our health! Can't wait to try it.

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Karen Harris 14/4/13 19:02

Yum Angie! This looks wonderful and congrats on having it included as a feature on the Foodista page today.

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Unknown 11/11/14 06:29

amazingon having it included as a feature on the Foodista page today.

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