Yay! finally have the computer back!
When I was little and we went out for a special dinner it was always Chinese food. Especially if I went out with my Grandparents. As I got older we started to expand our taste in Asian foods (probably as more became available) to Thai, Japanese, Malaysian Korean etc.
When I say Chinese, I mean Westernized Cantonese food which is prolific in Australia, in every shopping center food court and local take away shop. Things like lemon and honey chicken, special fried rice, fried dim sims and sweet and sour pork.
We now have really high quality Cantonese and other regional Chinese food available, but sometimes, I still crave my lemon chicken and special fried rice. I got some the other day from the local take away. It was a DISAPPOINTMENT! The chicken was dry and the sauce tasted like lemon cordial. Yuk. I wasted so many calories!
Then I was flicking through the July issue of the Australian Women Weekly and it featured a lemon chicken recipe by Adam Liaw (winner of the of second series of Australian Master Chef). So I had a go at making my own. It was YUMMY. I was a scared of frying at home, I usually avoid it, but the chicken was tender and crisp! The sauce was beautifully lemony and balanced! Give it a go…
Ingredients:
400g Chicken breast
2 egg whites
oil of choice, to shallow fry
1/2 cup of corn flour ( he recommends water-chestnut flour if you can get it)
white rice to serve
Marinade
1 tbs of light soy sauce
1/4 tsp of sesame oil
1/4 tsp of sea salt flakes
1 tbs of Shaoxiang wine (Chinese cooking wine, it you can’t find this use dry sherry)
Lemon Sauce
1/4 cup of caster sugar
1/4 cup of white vinegar
zest and juice of one lemon
1/2 cup of chicken stock
2 tsp of cornflour or arrowroot
1 small julienned carrot
3 green onions, julienned
Steps.
1. Combine all marinade ingredients in a shallow dish.
2. Between two sheets of plastic wrap, beat chicken softly to a uniform thickness of 1.5 to 2 cm. Place in dish with marinade, coat well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Heat 2 cm of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Beat the egg whites until fluid and frothy. Dip chicken in egg white, then into flour. Fry for 3 -4 minutes or until golden. Turn and fry for a further 3 minutes or until brown and cooked through. Drain chicken on paper towel. Repeat with remaining chicken, be careful not to over crowd the pan, as this will drop the temperature and result in soggy oily chicken.
Sauce
Combine sugar, vinegar, zest, juice and stock in a pot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer stirring, to dissolve sugar. Mix the arrowroot or corn flour with a little cold water and stir into the sauce. Cook stirring for about one minute, or until clear and glossy. Add the carrot and onion, cook to 30 secs to soften.
To Serve
Slice chicken into 2.5 cm strips. Arrange on plate, scatter with some chopped green onion, serve with rice and sauce.
Txx
Related articles
- Lemon Chicken (dawnoffood.com)
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