General Tso's Chicken, also known as General Tao's chicken, General Tsao's chicken, General Gao's chicken, General Gau's chicken, and sometimes just General's Chicken or even Sesame Chicken (if sprinkled with sesame seeds), is surprisingly easy to make with some practice. Here's a recipe I've worked out based on several others around the internet, and that I've tuned via trial and error to taste like some of the best Szechuan style varieties I've found in restaurants over the years.
To make the chicken pieces, beat the eggs and corn starch together, then add small morsels of chicken and mix to cover. Drop each chicken piece into a deep fryer at 375° F, and let the batch fry for about a minute once full. Remove the deep fryer basket, invert, and use a metal spatula to scrape the pieces off the basket if stuck. Repeat until all chicken has been fried, then put all pieces into the basket and fry a minute or two more. (For best results, do this final frying step after preparing the glaze.)
To make the glaze, mix all ingredients in a saucepan and stir constantly over low heat until the mixture thickens and is no longer cloudy. Continue stirring over low heat a little longer after it thickens at first; it will continue to thicken for a while yet.
Pour glaze over chicken, stir to cover, and serve immediately. Makes 6-8 servings. Doesn't hold up very well if refrigerated.
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