All I want to do it eat out; I don’t want to cook for myself, I don’t want to go to the grocery store, and I’m not terribly interested in any healthy food either. This is clearly a problem, since it’s neither sustainable health-wise nor financially. So, in an attempt to satisfy my craving for unhealthy restaurant food while not having to work too hard, or pay too much, I thought I’d give this crockpot General Tso’s Chicken a try.
I’ve got to say I’m impressed; it really is as good as the stuff you’d get from your local Chinese restaurant, or at least the mall food court. Especially considering it's not deep fried. It is all that you’d want it to be; sticky, filling, flavourful, and enough left over for lunch the next day. On the down side, it did take a little more effort than I had hoped, so until my motivation to cook is back to normal I won’t be attempting this one again.
Crockpot General Tso’s Chicken
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp pepper
4 Tbsp canola oil
2 lb. skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size cubes
Sauce
⅔ cup hoisin sauce
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup rice vinegar
6 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp minced garlic
½ cup water
¼ tsp red chili flakes (or more if you like)
½ tsp minced ginger
sliced green onions for garnish
Whisk together corn starch, salt, garlic powder and pepper. Add to a re-sealable bag.
Heat 1 Tbsp of oil over medium-high heat. Add ¼ of the chicken pieces to the corn starch mixture in the bag and toss to coat. Full tap off any excess corn starch mixture as you add the coated pieces to the hot pan to brown on each side for 1 minute. Repeat 3 more times with remaining chicken pieces. If too much corn starch builds up on your pan, stop, wipe out the pan, and add fresh oil.
Combine Sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Add ⅔ of the Sauce to a slow cooker with all of the browned chicken pieces. Cover and cook on low for 1hr 45m. Check at this point, the original recipe said 4 hours, but mine was done in 1hr 45 min.
Just before serving, add reserved Sauce to slow cooker and stir gently. Serve garnished with sliced green onions over steamed rice.