How to Make General Tso's Chicken

General Tso's Chicken is a delicious dish you'll find at most Chinese restaurants--and you can make the very same dish in your own kitchen at home. The chicken in this recipe is baked instead of deep fried, which is a little healthier and a lot less messier, if you're into that kinda thing. Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.
Ingredients:
3 cups crushed CORN FLAKES (or panko crumbs)
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless CHICKEN
1/2 cup ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR
2 EGGS, whisked
2 tsp SESAME OIL
5-6 GARLIC cloves (minced)
1 Tbsp GINGER (minced)
1/4 tsp RED PEPPER FLAKES
1/3 cup SOY SAUCE
1/4 cup APRICOT JAM
3 Tbsp HOISIN SAUCE
2 Tbsp CORNSTARCH
1 Tbsp BALSAMIC VINEGAR
1 2/3 cups WATER
SESAME SEEDS and GREEN ONION for garnish
Toast sesame seeds (make extra, 'cause they're a great addition to all kinds of dishes). You'll need about 1 1/2 pounds of chicken cut into roughly 1" pieces--dark or white, whichever you prefer. We're gonna bread and bake the chicken 'cause it's healthier and less messy than frying.
Set up a breading station:
In a bowl, season 1 cup of flour with salt and pepper. In another bowl, whip 2 eggs.
And in a third bowl set out your breading--use panko flakes or crushed cereal. Coat each piece of chicken in flour, then egg, and then roll and coat with bread crumbs and arrange on a greased baking sheet. When all the chicken is breaded and arranged on the pan, coat the top lightly with an oil spray. Slide the chicken into an oven heated at 400 degrees F and allow to bake 20 minutes. When the chicken is golden and crispy, remove from oven and set aside.
In a bowl, combine soy sauce, hoisin sauce, vinegar, cornstarch and water. Mix well. Heat sesame oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Add pepper flakes, garlic and ginger. Saute for 2 minutes and then add sauce. Constantly stirring, allow the sauce to come to a simmer. When the sauce begins to bubble, continue stirring a few minutes until the sauce thickens into a syrupy consistency--this will happen quite quickly. Add the chicken and stir, tossing the chicken until it is well coated with sauce. Transfer chicken and sauce to a serving dish and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onion. Serve with rice or noodles.
And that's it...give this General Tso's Chicken recipe a try and let me know what you think, and bon appétit!
And maybe you'll like this Moroccan Chicken Recipe, too--give it a look.

Easy Baked Jalapeno Poppers Recipe

Baked jalapeno poppers are quick and easy and cheesy. And bread crumby. And can be garlicky, too, if you like.



Thanks for watching, give it a go, and let me know what you think.

Baked Jalapeno Poppers Ingredients:
6 large JALAPENO peppers
8oz CREAM CHEESE
1 cup shredded CHEESE
4-5 cloves GARLIC (finely chopped)
about 1/4 cup CILANTRO (chopped)
1 tsp smoked PAPRIKA
1 tsp ONION POWDER
SALT and PEPPER, to taste
(dill, cumin, cayenne, and cajun mix
go well in poppers--experiment
with your favorite seasonongs)

Set cream cheese out from fridge for at least 1/2 hour to allow time to soften.
Cut stems from peppers, but not enough to open the back of the pepper entirely, this shallow cut will leave enough of the top of the pepper in place to form a "wall" that will hold the cheese as it bakes. With a spoon, scoop out the seeds and ribs; your jalepeno should look like a little rowboat (without oars or lifejacket).
In a bowl, throughly mix cream cheese, shredded cheese, cilantro, and seasonings together.
Spoon cheese mixture into pepper boats. Fill each pepper entirely, but do not overfill--just to the top of each pepper--mounded cheese will only make a mess and disrupt the optimal cheese to pepper ratio.
In a skillet, on medium heat, melt 2-3 Tbsp butter. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Turn off heat and add bread crumbs. Stir until butter is absorbed and garlic is mixed well with bread crumbs. Or, if you don't want to fool with garlic cloves--just substitute garlic powder.
Press peppers cheese side down into the crumb mixture, then turn over and mound extra crumb topping on the peppers.
Place peppers on a baking sheet and cook 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees F.
When the crumb topping is baked golden, remove and allow peppers to rest 5 minutes.
After that, you can do whatever your heart desires.
Give this baked jalapeno poppers recipe a try and let me know what you think, and bon appetit!

And if you wanna saute some poppers on the stove top with onions, try this Stove Top Poppers Recipe.