General Tsao's Chicken

My husband has been making this dish for several years now. I refuse to make it because it's less-than-healthy AND time consuming (and besides, he'll cook it, so why should I?! :)  However, I will admit this is an excellent recipe and definitely a keeper! For variety, you can even make the fried chicken pieces using this recipe and then use a different sauce.

Original recipe, here.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups vegetable oil for fying
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1 pinch pepper (the recipe calls for white pepper, but we've never had any, so we just use black)
• 1 cup cornstarch

• 2 Tb vegetable oil
• 3 Tb chopped green onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 6 dried, whole red chilies
• 1 strip orange zest
• 1/2 c white sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 3 Tb chicken broth
• 1 Tb rice vinegar
• 1/4 c soy sauce
• 2 Tb sesame oil
• 2 Tb peanut oil

• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 c water

Directions:

1. Heat 4 cups vegetable oil in a large saucepan on high heat. 
2. Beat the egg in a mixing bowl. Add the chicken cubes; sprinkle with salt, 1 tsp sugar, and pepper; mix well. Mix in 1 cup of cornstarch a little bit at a time until the chicken cubes are well coated.
3. In batches, carefully drop the chicken cubes into the hot oil one by one, cooking until they turn golden brown and begin to float, about 3 minutes. Remove the chicken and allow to cool as you fry the next batch. Once all of the chicken has been fried, re-fry the chicken, starting with the batch that was cooked first. Cook until the chicken turns deep golden brown, about 2 minutes more. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
4. Heat 2 Tb vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Stir in the green onion, garlic, whole chilies, and orange zest. Cook and stir a minute or two until the garlic has turned golden and the chilies brighten. Add 1/2 cup of sugar, the ginger, chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and peanut oil; bring to a biol and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Dissolve 2 tsp of cornstarch into the water, and stir into the boiling sauce. Return to a boil and cook until the sauce thickens and is no longer cloudy from the cornstarch, about 1 minute. Stir the chicken into the boiling sauce. Reduce heat to low and cook for a few minutes until the chicken absorbs some of the sauce.