Crispy Chinese Meyer Lemon Chicken
One thing I love about my job is that it pushes me out of my comfort zone in small ways… if it were up to me, I’d leave Chinese food to the pros (and Vietnamese food, and Thai) – part of what makes it taste so good is the not knowing what exactly went into it, the experience of making ginger beef / lemon chicken / mu shu pork night after night in well-seasoned woks and skillets. Who am I to pull off a proper batch of lemon chicken? We talked about citrus on CBC this morning, and with Chinese New Year coming up on Friday, I figured I’d give it a go.
And really, the ingredients that go into this are not at all exotic – you need not even venture down the aisle of the grocery store that has coconut milk and rice noodles and other no longer particularly extraordinary ingredients. It’s is really no more than chicken and soy sauce and lemon and honey and cornstarch – it’s all in how you put them together. Everyone liked the lemon sauce – which had the colour of unfiltered apple juice, rather than of lemon pie filling (it’s common to not use stock and add yellow food colouring) – but the chicken, which is simply marinated, dipped in cornstarch and fried, could be doused in any number of sauces – homemade or jarred sweet and sour sauce or some such.
It’s not that I want to replace Chinese takeout or food court ginger beef – but if you’re so inclined, it’s fun to DIY.
Directions
1Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces or strips and put into a zip-lock bag with the soy sauce and ginger. Refrigerate for an hour, or overnight. When you’re ready to cook, add the egg white to the bag and squish it around to coat the chicken. Put the cornstarch into a shallow bowl.
2To make the sauce, bring all the ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan; cook for a couple minutes, until thickened.
3Heat a couple inches of oil in a heavy pot or skillet set over medium-high heat. When it’s hot but not smoking (a scrap of bread should sizzle when dipped in), dip pieces of chicken in the cornstarch to coat, then gently lower into the hot oil. Cook in batches, then remove from the oil with tongs or a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour the lemon sauce overtop and toss to coat; serve immediately, over rice.
Thawing the chicken now and ready to make for supper tonite.
Looks fabulous.
Yay Margaret!
oh that sounds so good.
I could drink that sauce!
heavenly!
I m printing this out AND will share on my friday links!
Would chicken breast tenders work as well as the thighs? Dinner party this weekend and may have to revamp the menu!
We love Chinese food!! The part about this that scares me is the couple inches of oil. That’s like, cups!! What to do with the oil after?
Rose
Breast tenders would be fine Cathy! Or chicken breast… I just prefer the texture and flavour of chicken thighs.
Rose – tossing the oil is always a pain – I pour mine into an empty milk carton to toss out. There shouldn’t be too much..
I saw some chef on some chef (that helps, right?) once do at home Chinese. And she used lightly whipped egg whites with a bit of cornstarch for the coating before cooking the chicken. Gave it that batter feel without it being heavy. I’ve never been able to get it out of my mind…
(I want to say it was someone on The Marilyn Show back in November or December.)
Oh, that looks wonderful!
I love chicken thighs 😀