Chinese Lemon Chicken
Chinese Lemon Chicken
Posted by liz at recipegoldmine
com May 26, 2001
Source: Cookin’ Dad – 01-04-2001 08:03 am
Please excuse the delay in posting this recipe
I figure that by now everyone should be back from Christmas vacation
At any rate, most of you know that my Chinese father-in-law is an excellent chef who taught me how to make a few dishes when he visited us a few months ago
My father-in-law actually cooked a few dishes with me in the kitchen, but for most of the dishes, including this one, he simply gave me some ingredients to use & I figured out the ratios
This dish, although seemingly very simple, proved most elusive! It took four tries before I finally came up with something good
The dish has a strong lemon flavor & is slightly sweet & tangy
Hope you enjoy it
P
S
Am now working on a Szechuan Chicken dish
4 to 6 whole breast halves (skin included)
1 cup water
1/2 cup LOW SODIUM chicken broth
1/4 freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbspgranulated sugar
4 tpss ginger, finely grated (the finer the better)
1/2 tps salt**
** I decided to use a little salt instead of soy sauce I originally had in recipe
The third time I made recipe, sauce was slightly darker than I wanted it to be
Ingredients used to fry chicken
Cornstarch
Oil
Eggs
Mix sauce ingredients (everything except cornstarch, oil & eggs) at least several hrs before making this dish to allow flavors to mix
I didn’t do this the first time I made this dish & it just doesn’t taste the same! Rub some salt (to taste – between 1/4 & 1/2 tps
per breast) on the breasts so that the thicker meat on breasts will have a good flavor
If you don’t do this, you will have a tasty sauce & the meat on the surface of chicken will taste good, but inner part will be very bl&
Last time I made this I also used a bit of garlic powder (can mix in with salt about 1/4 to 1/2 tps total)
Chicken should be salted with garlic & salt mixture AT LEAST 12 hrs, preferably 24 hrs in advance to allow maximum penetration of flavors
Place a good amount of shortening or a combination of shortening & liquid vegetable oil in wok or deep fryer
Wait until you have breaded your chicken before heating shortening
Next, beat two eggs with about 1 1/2 cups water
After that, add about 2 tablespoon vegetable
oil to mixture & beat lightly
You are now ready to bread chicken breasts with cornstarch
Dip each breast in cornstarch making sure it is thoroughly covered
Lightly shake off excess cornstarch & dip in egg mixture
Allow breasts to drip excess liquid before re-dipping in cornstarch mixture
This time, you want a good coating, similar to that of crispy beef–solid coating , but not too thick
Set aside breaded breasts & heat oil
Oil should be heated to 360 deg
You do not have to be exact, but oil should be GOOD & HOT, but not so hot that the batter on chicken will have a burned off-flavor from excess temp
during frying cycle
Depending on the size of your fryer or wok, I would probably fry 2–definitely no more than 3 breasts at a time
To fry more than that would risk excess oil penetration because of a slowed oil temp
recovery
Fry breasts for about 12 min, or slightly longer if you are frying very large breasts
If you discover that breasts are browning too quickly during fry cycle, you can turn flame down after breasts have fried
for about six min
By that time, there should be a good crispy shell to protect chicken from oil penetration
Shortly after you have started frying chicken, heat up sauce & allow to simmer for a minute or so before adding about 1 1/2 Tbsp(approximation) cornstarch mixed with water
Once sauce thickens, add about 2 tablespoon hot oil & mix well
Remove sauce from fire & set aside
When fried chicken breasts are done, allow them to set for about 2 min to ensure meat closest to bone is fully cooked
Next chop each chicken breast into about 3-4 pieces & pour some of lemon sauce (to taste) over chicken
Remaining sauce can be used to dip fried chicken pieces
Chicken can be served over white rice
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