We call this General Janna's Chicken at our house.

This has become a favorite. I found the recipe from Everyday Food and try as I might I cannot find the link to the recipe any longer. Thankfully I printed out a copy and I’ve shared it with several friends by photocopying that printout. My daughter loves this meal because she says it tastes like chicken nuggets. I just put a few pieces aside for the kids before I put the chicken into the sauce.

General Janna’s Chicken (aka Lighter General Tso’s Chicken)

Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 pound snow peas, trimmed and halved crosswise
  • 1 garlic clove minced (or more to taste, the original recipe calls for 4 cloves of garlic)
  • 2 tsp fresh ginger grated and peeled (or use 1 tsp of powdered) It’s better with fresh ginger!
  • 3 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp red-pepper flakes
  • 4-5 large pieces of orange zest
  • 2-3 Tbsp orange juice (or the juice of half an orange)
  • 2 large eggs whites (We save the yolks to add to scrambled eggs in fried rice.)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, stir together 1 Tbsp cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water until smooth. Add snow peas, garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, red-pepper flakes, orange zest and juice; toss to coat, and set aside.
  2. In another bowl, whisk together egg whites remaining 3 Tbsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Add chicken, and toss to coat.
  3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium heat. Lift half the chicken from the egg-white mixture (shaking off excess), and add to skillet. Cook, turning occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining oil and chicken and set aside (reserve skillet).
  4. Add snow-pea mixture to skillet. Cook until snow peas are tender and sauce has thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Return chicken to skillet (with any juices); toss to coat. Serve with rice.

I tried to save time tonight by not trimming the snow peas but I won't do that again. The ends of snow peas were too hard. I usually just use my kitchen shears.

This is what my daughter loves; a much healthier version of chicken nuggets.

Chicken, ginger, Tried It!

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May 10, 2010

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