By Fuchsia Dunlop
- Total Time
- About 40 minutes
- Rating
- 4(1,357)
- Notes
- Read community notes
General Tso’s chicken is named for Tso Tsung-t’ang, a 19th-century general who is said to have enjoyed eating it. The Hunanese have a strong military tradition, and Tso is one of their best-known historical figures. But although many Chinese dishes are named after famous personages, there is no record of any dish named after Tso. The real roots of the recipe lie in the aftermath of the Chinese civil war, when the leadership of the defeated Nationalist Party fled to the island of Taiwan. They took with them many talented people, including a number of notable chefs, and foremost among them was Peng Chang-kuei. He created this dish in 1950s Taiwan, and brought it with him when he moved to the states in 1973, making it sweeter for American palates. This version is adapted from the original, hot and sour and lacking the sweetness of its Americanized counterpart.
Featured in: Hunan Resources
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Ingredients
Yield:2 to 3 servings
- 1tablespoon double-concentrate tomato paste, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
- 1tablespoon of water
- ½teaspoon potato flour or cornstarch
- ½teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1½teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1tablespoon rice vinegar
- 3tablespoons chicken stock or water
- 12ounces (about 4 to 5) skinless, boneless chicken thighs
- ½teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 2teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1egg yolk
- 2tablespoons potato flour
- 1quart peanut oil, more as needed
- 6 to 10dried red chilies
- 2teaspoons finely chopped ginger
- 2teaspoons minced garlic
- 2teaspoons sesame oil
- Scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish
For the Sauce
For the Chicken
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
Step
2
To prepare the chicken, unfold the chicken thighs and lay them on a cutting board. Remove as much of the sinew as possible. (If some parts are very thick, cut them in half horizontally.) Slice a few shallow crosshatches into the meat. Cut each thigh into roughly ¼-inch slices and place in a large bowl. Add the soy sauces and egg yolk and mix well. Stir in the potato flour and 2 teaspoons peanut oil and set aside. Using scissors, snip the chilies into ¾-inch pieces, discarding the seeds. Set aside.
Step
3
Pour 3½ cups peanut oil into a large wok, or enough oil to rise 1½ inches from the bottom. Set over high heat until the oil reaches 350 to 400 degrees. Add half the chicken and fry until crisp and deep gold, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a plate. Repeat with the second batch. Pour the oil into a heatproof container and wipe the wok clean.
Step
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Place the wok over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons peanut oil. When hot, add the chilies and stir-fry for a few seconds, until they just start to change color. Add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry for a few seconds longer, until fragrant. Add the sauce, stirring as it thickens. Return the chicken to the wok and stir vigorously to coat. Remove from the heat, stir in the sesame oil and top with scallions. Serve with rice.
Ratings
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out of 5
1,357
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Cooking Notes
kgscas
Wait what? OK so I'm not an experienced cook but if I mix 1 tablespoon "double-concentrate" tomato paste (which I'll have to find and buy) with 1 tablespoon water...don't I have "regular" tomato paste (which I do have in my pantry)? What am I missing here?
Cathymink
3 chilies were more than enough for our taste! Also substituted corn starch for the potato,flour and used just 1 soy sauce. Double strength tomato paste? Please try to keep the ingredients accessible for those that live out in the boonies!
Stephen
If you've got an Asian market near you, I encourage everyone to buy that bottle of light soy sauce. A combination of light and dark soy sauce is used in almost every Chinese dish. Dark soy sauce is used more of a dye to give food a dark color and light soy sauce gives it an umami flavor that the dark version lacks.
TD
kgscas - don't be silly. You need to dilute it with double-concentrate water. Start with 2 TB water and boil it down to half its original volume, THEN add it to the tomato paste, yo.
Dirk
I didn't have potato flour. An online converter told me that if I had to use all-purpose, double the recipe's potato-flour amount.
Don't skimp on the oil! This is a deep-fried dish. I know that even 1 cm of oil feels like a ton, but you want the full 1.5 inches. Save it in a mason jar for another savory dish when you're done.
And ½ tsp of light soy and 1.5 of dark? Great, if you've got them. If you've only got one, though, fine; don't spend $4.
2tattered
Double-concentrated tomato paste comes in a tube. Just use regular paste. Or don't bother, and make Grace Parisi's fabulous recipe instead. Google it, or you can find it on the Food & Wine website. It is THE best. No tomato paste needed.
Michael Trombetta
I checked with NYT Cooking, and was told that cornstarch could be used in place of the potato starch
Hopbell
This is excellent and pretty close to what I had at Chef Peng's restaurant, though without the green onion. Regardless, I make this recipe all the time and love it. The chicken does not need to be battered however and I sometimes make it without the batter to make it lighter.
Margarita Martín-Hidalgo
My husband and I made this recipe and loved it. We used a mild Thai chili paste instead of the chilies, and that worked very well, except that it needed more of a kick. We'll try it again either adding pepper or using a combination of the chili paste and chilies.
Leah
After cooking many of Ms. Dunlop's recipes, all of which are fantastic, I think it is important to note that in the states, potato flour and potato starch are two different things. I am convinced she means for us to use potato STARCH as the flour acts totally differently and creates a clumpy mess. Potato starch is much like corn starch and thus you can interchange them.
JLP
This is an unnecessarily fussy recipe. Why do we need "double-concentrate tomato paste?" And if has to be double concentrate, why mix it with water? I don't know what double concentrate tomato paste is and I'm not sure I'd buy it specially for this without an explanation as to its utility and necessity.
Dark *and* light soy sauce? We use a good quality sushi soy sauce. Is that dark or light?
More of an explanation with respect to the esoteric ingredients please.
Sousousudio
I'm not one of those people who finds everything too salty, but I found this quite salty & somewhat one dimensional. It was described as hot & sour, but there were no sour elements like tamarind or lime. When I make it again I might add more sweet elements like honey or mirin & reverse the ratio between light & dark soy sauce
Lawrence
Call me a peasant but next time I add sugar.
stuart itter
Recipe kind of matter-of-fact about high risk of superheating that much oil for people not familiar with it. Thermometer essential.
Lots of wok left above the oil level.
Ostiaray
For all of those people confused by double strength tomato paste - Cento company makes a double concentrate tomato paste in a tube
Michael Bunse
Is that an American thing that everyone is confused by "double-concentrate tomato paste"? At least here in Germany it is a staple everyone has at home. Even the smallest supermarket sells it.
Christy
I made this with tofu and it worked perfectly. I made sure the tofu was very dry (microwave method + pressing + extra time air drying after tearing into pieces to get jagged edges). I think baking the tofu rather than frying (for less fuss) would have worked fine. I was craving a sweet Americanized version so added sweet chili sauce and also Szechuan peppercorns to the sauce. My husband who would have probably rather had the chicken version like this a lot!
quinn
I doubled the sauce recipie because I love saucy dishes. It was great.
cat
I love Fuchsia’s recipes. The only addition the first time I made this dish was some turbinado sugar. I found that I need to use regular light soy sauce instead of tamari, otherwise it needs some salt. The result is a delicious smoky, spicy, sweet and sour chicken dish.
Doug
My kitchen is well-stocked, but why do some of these recipes call for things like "double-concentrate tomato paste' (???) and "potato flour?" Are these ingredients really necessary over regular tomato paste and flour?
JC
I make this with tofu and it has become a favorite dinner.
name
Add sesame seeds
Marianna
It really needed a bit of sugar and I added five spice powder
Bobbi
It looks like there was unnecessary confusion around double concentrate tomato paste. I checked 3 tubes of tomato paste in my pantry (3 brands) and they were all double concentrate. I hadn’t noticed this before. Don’t know about cans of tomato paste.
Michele
I am in Canada. Double concentrate tomato paste (basically tomato paste) is found in most grocery stores. It comes in a tube - very practical. Use what you need, replace the cap and refrigerate. No need to find a use, or a method of saving the dregs of a can left over from a recipe. Keep both: a can in the pantry and a tube in the fridge. Use the can when you need a larger amount, or the tube when you need a tablespoon or two.
ally
We made this as noted except for changing the chili peppers to chili flakes, 2 heaping teaspoons as we could not find the former. It was really great!!
Cambro
Flavor wise this is a B. Hits the spice notes but falls short on the sweet and sour I expect from a good takeout order. Also lacks the crunch of deep fried chicken thigh pieces. Agree with use of potato starch - I see this ingredient in most recipes - but curious to test next time for better crunch with corn starch.
JohnA
meh. watch it with the peppers, it can get too hot very fast, other than that it was pretty dull & not really much like the General Tso's we have had out...
ally
Add a teaspoon of sugar to the sauce.
jessica
yummy, but id hold back on the chiles if your crowd cant take the heat. I did 4 vs. the 6-10, and it was right at the edge for my diners. Meanwhile, double the sauce--no need to be stingy here. FYI, i doubled the chicken, and didnt have to double the coating except for some extra corn starch.
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