Chinese Food

Oh, back to life. Back to reality.

We’re back from our Caribbean cruise vacation. It was such a wonderful time. A wonderful break from life. It was a wonderful way to celebrate my 30th birthday!

But we’re back home now and back to the normal grind. Back to work today…

But it seems like Tuesday will be a day at home, and maybe even Wednesday, because of this blizzard heading our way. Yay? I mean it’s great for another day ‘off’ but I’ll need to make up the time in the end and snow. But, damn, I love a good Nor’easter. I heart you already Winter Storm Juno!!

 

I am a Weather Channel junkie. JUNKIE. Whenever there is a big storm I watch the Weather Channel, or our local news channel, 24/7. I love tracking storms. I love watching the updates throughout the day(s) as they get more and more information from different areas to get more specific quantities of snow/rain with tides or wind gusts. Oh, it’s so damn exciting.

Plus, it’s a good break from reality so we get to veg out and I get to cook!! I have some fun recipes to get to work on too! I’ve had my eye on a brownie recipe for awhile that I gotta make. And I’m working on perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s getting there!!

And I know I am going to be making this General Tso’s Chicken again.

Hot damn, this General Tso’s Chicken is so freaking good. It will make you toss your take out menus in the trash. Okay, maybe you still need take out for your egg rolls and such, but I doubt we’ll ever order General Tso’s again. It is gonna be homemade for us all the way now.

This is another one of those instances when I love Secret Recipe Club as it helped me discover another great blog and recipe. I thoroughly enjoying checking out the recipes on Asiya’s blog Chocolate and Chillies. She posts delicious recipes while sharing about her life in Toronto as a stay at home mom to 2 little boys. Her recipes often pack some heat (from chillies!) since she is Indian and her husband is Pakistani. There were quite a few recipes that caught my eye, including her Chocolate Truffle Energy Bites, Black Bean Burger, Pasta with Spinach Pesto, Roasted Red Peppers and Sundried Tomatoes, but I picked out her General Tso’s Chicken recipe.

I stuck with the recipe with the exception that we love broccoli with our General Tao’s so I added that. Because of that addition I doubled up the sauce. If you don’t want broccoli then cut back the sauce to follow the recipe exactly as it was on Asiya’s blog.

So while the Northeast is getting slammed with snow, we’ll be cozy at home making chocolate chip cookies and another batch of General Tso’s Chicken, since we know take out is not getting through 24+ inches of snow!

General Tso’s Chicken

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ cubes (about 1 lb)
• 1 teaspoon orange juice
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 3 1/2 tbsp canola oil, divided
• 2 Cups pieces of broccoli
• 1 inch ginger, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 5-7 dried red chillies
• 2 green onions, white part only, cut into 1 inch length

Sauce

• 5 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• 6 Tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 1/2 Cup water
• 1/4 Cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon orange juice
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Process

1. Marinate the chicken in orange juice and salt for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
2. Coat the chicken with the 1/3 cup cornstarch.
3. Over high heat, heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a wok/large non-stick skillet.
4. Add the chicken and fry until cooked through.  Remove and put on a paper towel lined plate.
5. Add the broccoli and stir every 20 seconds or so. After 2 minutes add 1/4 Cup of water and cover for 1 minute. Remove the broccoli, set aside.
6. Heat the remaining oil in the wok and add the garlic, ginger, and dried red chilies.  Fry until you can smell the spices.
7. Add the sauce and mix.  When the sauce boils and thickens add the chicken, broccoli, and green onions.  Stir to coat everything with the sauce.  Serve immediately with some hot steamed rice or quinoa.

Adapted from Chocolate and Chillies

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Check out all the other great Secret Recipe Club posts this month!

And be sure to check out my 3 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

 

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