GEORGE'S GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN
Marinade:
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon orange zest, you'll need 1 medium orange *
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon granular Splenda or equivalent liquid Splenda (see my comments below)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon chili paste
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut in 2" strips
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons red bell pepper, diced, 3/4 ounce or about 1/4 of a small pepper
1/3 cup green onions, sliced, 3 large green onions or 1 ounce after trimming
1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum, optional
Whisk all of the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and pour into a gallon zipper bag along with the chicken strips. Gently knead the bag to evenly distribute the marinade. Marinate in refrigerator 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the bag, reserving any excess marinade (see my comments below).
Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Cook and stir the chicken 2 minutes until it starts to brown. Add the bell pepper, green onions and marinade. Cook 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly, until the sauce has reduced and the chicken is done. It may not take quite that long. If you're using the xanthan gum, add it at this time. Sprinkle it lightly over the chicken and stir in.
Makes 4 servings
Do not freeze
* George called for 2 tablespoons.
Per Serving: 291 Calories; 12g Fat; 40g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs
This recipe is from one of George Stella's cookbooks, "Eating Stella Style". I wasn't sure how many oranges I'd need to get 2 tablespoons of orange zest. It turned out that 1 medium orange yields about 1 tablespoon. Since I only bought 1 orange, I used just 1 tablespoon of zest. I think it was plenty. Any more would have made the dish too bitter. I also think this could use more sweetener. The General Tso's chicken I've had in restaurants is much sweeter than this. I think I'd use 2 tablespoons of Splenda instead of just one. Although this tastes pretty good, it doesn't taste all that much like what I've had in restaurants. Perhaps extra sweetener would help.
There was a slight problem with the recipe as George wrote it. He said to drain the chicken and reserve the marinade. There isn't enough marinade to drain. It all clings to the chicken so I dumped it into the wok, marinade and all. It worked just fine that way. I also added a tiny bit of xanthan gum to make the little bit of sauce glaze the chicken better. It really wasn't terribly necessary though. I've adjusted George's cooking time a little too. The chicken really doesn't need all of the 4 minutes of cooking in the last step. Click the photo to see a close-up.