INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds boneless & skinless chicken thighs
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
DIRECTIONS
1. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and place in large bowl.
2. Add sherry, garlic and 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Mix well into chicken pieces.
place marinading chicken in refrigerator for 1/2 to 1 hour.
3. Cook chicken in two batches. Coat first batch with corn starch. Do quickly, corn starch can become sticky and gummy. Tap excess corn starch from chicken pieces. Let sit a few minutes while heating oil in large frying pan over medium heat.
4. Lower chicken into hot oil pieces and cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Pierce to be sure chicken has turned white on the inside. The juices should run clear.
6. Remove cooked chicken with with slotted spoon and lay on paper towels placed over newspaper. Cover to keep warm. Cook batch two. Remove oil from pan and ginger and red pepper, stir quickly then add vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and corn syrup. Stir and bring mixture to a low to boil, continue stirring. Mixture will thicken and become a sauce, when it does, place warm chicken into sauce to coat each piece. When coated, remove individually from pan into a warm plate. Allow to cool down a bit before serving.
Serve with rice and steamed bok choy. Bok choy may be available at your super market or local vegetable market. Look for baby bok choy, like many green leafed vegetables small means more more tender.
Optional: garnish chicken with chopped green onions
Makes apprx. 5 servings
Check this cookbook by Charmaine Solomon Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking
. This book is quite old, but available from Amazon sellers. I like this cookbook because it is much like the cooking and recipe demonstration videos that are so popular now. The introduction is very useful if you are interested in learning the what, how and why of Chinese cooking. The short glossary is thorough and complete, it answers any questions you may have about the ingredients mentioned in the book.