General Tso’s Chicken from SCRATCH & Goodbye to the ”Bad Guy” Scott Hall!

Hi everyone and welcome back to Nikoli's Kitchen! This week on the show I remember "the Bad Guy," Scott Hall, who passed away recently... and I reflected on his struggles some years back that I found at a critical point in my own life and my own struggle. In the back half of the show I talk about the General Tso's Chicken I made, which despite a couple missteps when I was preparing the dish live, turned out absolutely amazing. Make sure you hit the link for my Twitch channel down below so you don't miss when I make these dishes LIVE!

 

The 6th Annual Livestream for the Cure will take place from May 19th - May 21st, as we work with content creators and podcast partners around the world to raise $20,000 for the Cancer Research Institute. This is our sixth year, and over the past five we've raised over $50,000. Please help us add to that total and help us spread the word by sharing promos for the event and information leading up to it. Learn more by visiting livestreamforthecure.com.

 

Featured Recipe for this Episode (Updated 03/29/2022)

Sauce:

1/2 c chicken stock
1/2 c vegetable stock
1/2 c reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 c hoisin sauce
3 T fresh ginger, minced
4 T fresh garlic, minced
2 T hot red peppers, chopped
1/2 c rice vinegar
3 T dark brown sugar
2 T tomato paste
1-1/2 t sesame oil

Slurry: 

2 t cornstarch
1/4 c cold water 

Batter:

2/3 c AP flour
1-1/3 c rice flour
2/3 c corn starch
1-1/2 c water, more to desired consistency

4 lbs chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
Oil for deep frying
Deep frying thermometer
Basmati rice, prepared as directed
2 T hot red peppers, chopped
4 T scallions, chopped

Begin by adding your sauce ingredients except for the sesame oil to a large saucepan/pot and bringing them to a simmer over mid heat.
Let the sauce simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly.
Add half of your sesame oil, and more to taste- a little goes a long way.
Use an immersion blender to blend it down into a sauce (you can also transfer it to a normal blender).
Stir your cold water and cornstarch together in a small bowl to form a slurry, then add it to the saucepan.
Stir the sauce together; it will thicken up with the addition of the slurry. Cook for an additional minute or two to cook out the cornstarch flavor.
Remove from the heat and set aside.

When you're ready to start cooking, place a large Dutch oven or stock pot on the stove and add your oil. 
Add your deep fry thermometer on the side of the pot if you have one. 
Turn on mid-high and begin heating the oil. 
Combine your flours and cornstarch together in a bowl and whisk until combined.
Add your water in, stirring constantly until this has a nice, thick, batter-like consistency (it should be thicker than waffle batter but still runny; it shouldn't form a super thick layer on your chicken).
Add your chicken to the bowl. 
Stir until well-combined and the chicken is well-coated (the batter should be thick it will not have an issue). 
Once your oil hits 350° or once a drop of batter dropped in pops back to the surface and floats after 1-2 seconds, it is ready. 
Add your chicken in batches (I did four), cooking it for about 2-3 minutes, being sure to break up any chicken that is clumped together (add it a piece at a time to save yourself the trouble of unsticking them later). 
Remove the chicken and rest. Heat your oil to 375°.
Add the chicken back to your oil and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until it is a very crispy golden brown- I had to do this in two batches.
Remove the oil from the heat and place your chicken on a paper towel-lined platter or a drying rack to rest.

Return the saucepan with your sauce to the heat and heat to mid. 
Once it starts simmering around the edges, add your chicken and toss to coat all over in the sauce. 
Add the chopped scallions and red peppers and toss it with the chicken coated in sauce.
Serve the chicken over basmati rice. 

 

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Guest Appearances

I was honored to sit down with Ashlee of the Rabbit Ears TV Podcast again to talk about all things Big Little Lies! Check it out at https://www.netflixnswill.com/rabbitears/2021/8/31/big-little-lies.

I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Em of Verbal Diorama to talk about Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy and we had a blast. Please tune in at https://www.verbaldiorama.com/episode/anchorman-the-legend-of-ron-burgundy!

It was amazing to go back home again and sit down with Justin and LoySauce to review Spider-Man: No Way Home! Tune in to this very NSFW episode at https://epicfilmguys.podbean.com/e/efg-classic-nick-loysauce-return-for-spider-man-no-way-home-review/!

I headed back to Epic Film Guys again and joined Justin and the SAUCE for a review of Matt Reeves' The Batman! Check out the review at https://epicfilmguys.podbean.com/e/efg-classic-the-batman-review-special-edition/!

 

Credits

Intro "Midnight in Carmel" by Wendy Marcini. Licensed from Epidemic Sound. Check out her amazing music at https://open.spotify.com/artist/4CaTfk4pRkpA8A9gXamYg2.

"Ali" by Lucas King. Find this and more amazing music by Lucas and subscribe to him on YouTube by visiting https://www.youtube.com/user/LucasKingPiano!

Outro "The Climb" from Music for Makers. Sign up and get a royalty-free song delivered to your inbox every Monday at www.musicformakers.com!

Other music in this episode licensed from Epidemic Sound. Learn more and sign up for a free trial with access to thousands of songs at https://www.epidemicsound.com/.

Track Listing:

"Days of Hope," "Where Heroes Come to Die," and "The Way to the Sky" by Hampus Naeselius.
"Think Forward" by Martin Landstrom.