To make the chile garlic sauce, you can use fresh red chiles or dried. I used dried because I had several stored away with my spices. I chopped them in a food processor with garlic, salt, sugar, and rice vinegar. Just add a little vinegar as you begin to puree, and then add more as needed for the paste consistency you want. The paste can be stored in the refrigerator for a few months, or you can just make what you need and not have one more thing cluttering the refrigerator which is what I should have done given the state of my refrigerator. To start the General Tso's chicken, sesame oil, an egg white, soy sauce, and cornstarch were combined. Chunks of boneless chicken were added to the mixture, turned to coat, and were left for 20 minutes. In a separate bowl, chicken broth, chile garlic sauce, sugar, soy sauce, and cornstarch were whisked together for the sauce. In a sauce pan, minced ginger and garlic were cooked in oil for a minute, and the sauce mixture was added. This was cooked while stirring until slightly thickened and then kept warm while the chicken was fried. The coated pieces of chicken were pan fried for a couple of minutes per side and then drained on a paper towel-lined sheet pan. Last, the chicken was added to the sauce and stirred to cover before being served with rice and broccoli.
Tweet
, and this is another dish from that book. Pocket eggs were very simple but new to me. The basic concept is to break eggs into a pan to fry them and fold them in half before they are finished cooking. Easy enough. Soy sauce, cider vinegar, and sugar were combined as a sauce which was poured over the eggs at the end of the cooking time.
As I turned the eggs onto themselves, I imagined future versions of them as mini egg tacos stuffed with a pinch of shredded cheese or a dab of salsa. The resulting half-moon eggs were very cute especially when you think of them as mini egg tacos. For a moment, I considered leaving the sugar out of the sauce which is just the sort of thing I would normally do. But, since I’ve been on a mission to learn from Irene Kuo and gain some understanding of Chinese cuisine, I stuck to the exact instructions. The sugar mitigated the vinegar’s acidity and was balanced by the soy sauce. The sauce is poured into the hot pan just as the eggs have finished cooking, the heat is turned off, and a lid is placed on the pan. You shake the pan as it sizzles, and the sauce thickens just a bit as it swirls around the eggs. The process was so simple I really couldn’t have failed. I need to learn a few more dishes to create a complete Chinese brunch, but the pocket eggs were a success.
To complete the dish, ginger slices and smashed garlic are stir fried in oil in a hot wok. Blanched broccoli flowerets are added and cooked while being quickly turned about the wok and then receive a sprinkling of water and dry sherry. The velveted shrimp are tossed into the mix. A simple sauce of soy sauce, dry sherry, sesame oil, and sugar is stirred together, poured on top, and incorporated. Amazingly, I completed all these steps without ruining the dish.
In fact, I’m proud of what I accomplished here. The broccoli flowerets absorbed the sauce to nice effect, and the overall mild flavors kept the focus on the shrimp. The tender shrimp had a smooth surface texture unlike any I had prepared before. I’m looking forward to velveting chicken and learning more as I continue through this book. This was a good first step on the path to my Chinese cooking being eagerly anticipated. Or, at least tolerated.