One of my Christmas presents was a wok that had been on my wish list at Amazon. jwa got it for me and I used it the week after receiving it on this lemon chicken recipe. It’s one I found online, by Emeril*, and I was pretty pleased with it. At first, I thought it was too lemony but the tangy taste really grew on me. I really liked how the cornstarch made the chicken puff and crisp up.
We had this with some green beans, garlic and red bell pepper strips sauteed in a little sesame oil.
Also, I would have no issues with making this in a big skillet if I didn’t have a wok.
Lemony Chicken
1 large egg
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips (I had about 15 strips)
1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch (you may need a bit more corn starch for dredging, atart with 1/4 cup and add more if needed)
1/3 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
3 tbsp peanut oil (use more if you like, I used a small amount as I like to use less oil when possible)
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
2 tsp minced ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup julienned green onions, garnish
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, garnish
In medium bowl, beat the egg lightly. Place 1/4 cup cornstarch in a shallow dish. Dredge the chicken in the cornstarch and dip into the egg wash, shaking to remove any excess. Dredge again in the cornstarch to lightly coat. Place on a baking dish and let stand for 5 minutes. Just before cooking, shake off any excess cornstarch. The original directions said to do all the dredging, “one at a time.” I don’t think so. I did about 4 strips at a time. A bit sloppier but a whole lot quicker. And it turned out just fine. So, be as anal as you want to about the dredging.
In a bowl, make the sauce by combining the chicken stock, lemon juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, and lemon zest. Set aside. Next, heat the oil in your wok (or big skillet) over medium-high heat for a minute or two until hot. Add the chicken strips, making sure not to overcrowd the pan. Fry them for about 3 minutes, until crisp, turning once. Adjust the heat as needed.
Remove with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels. In a small bowl, dissolve the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch in the tablespoon of water. If you have great excesses of oil (if you used 3 tablespoons, you won’t), pour most of the oil out of the wok. If you have no oil leftin the pan after removing the chicken, add a smidge more. Then add the green onions, ginger, and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
Add the lemon sauce to the wok, stir to combine, and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook, stirring, until thick.
Return the chicken strips to the wok and stir-fry until warmed through and combined well with the sauce, 1 to 2 minutes.
Remove from the heat and divide among plates. Garnish with the julienned green onions and toasted sesame seeds and serve.
Plated with some sauteed green beans and red pepper strips.
* I like reading the recipes a lot more than watching the show — go figure.
What type of wok did you get? It looks great!
one of my favorites-thanks for sharing!
Amy: It is a Joyce Chen one that they don’t seem to have at Amazon anymore (it has wooden handles). So far I love it!
Jann: Thank you for reading 🙂
Looks tasty…like you would get at the restaurant.
I like this – I will give it a shot. My wife loves this dish, so she’ll be happy.
Emeril’s “Essence of…” show is not bad, I used to like it back in the nineties before he became king of FoodTV. It doesn’t feature a sycophantic audience cheering wildly after the liberal application of seasoned salt.
Hmmm. How do you think this would be as ORANGE chicken? I tried some of Trader Joe’s mandarin chicken at the behest of someone more in the know about frozen entrees, and MAN was it good! I want to replicate it at home! I wonder if this would do the trick?
Heath:
Hmmmm…I will have to look for that next time I am at TJ’s. And, I bet you could totally make this with orange. In fact, I was wondering the same thing. I say try it with oranges annd let mme know how it works!! 🙂