Chinese Lemon Chicken
Serves 2-3
Growing up, it was much to my sister’s annoyance that if we were getting a Chinese take away I would always request lemon chicken. I love its astringent sourness whereas she does not! Luckily though, the Food Husband shares my love of it. However, I’m struggling to think when we last had a Chinese takeaway, but I’ve been working on my own version, and it is a pretty good dupe. It’s fairly quick to cook (it’s all in the preparation) and I’m sure it’s much healthier than the takeaway version.
I made this totally gluten-free in order to cater for my husband’s dietary requirements, but it’s the soy sauce, stock and flour that are the ingredients you need to ensure are gluten-free if necessary.
Preparation is key to this recipe. Have everything ready to go into the wok and it will then be ready in no time. I’ve also done steps 1-3 an hour before we’re going to eat so that I know that after the Food Baby is in bed, dinner will be ready to eat not long after.
- Ingredients:
- For the chicken:
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (gluten-free if required)
- 1 egg white, beaten
- 300g chicken (thigh or breast) cut into thin strips
- 5 tbsp corn flour
- Pinch of ground white pepper
- For the stir fry:
- Vegetable oil
- 1 onion, large dice
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 inches of ginger, julienned (thin strips)
- 1 pepper, large dice
- For the sauce:
- 2 lemons (juice and zest)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (gluten-free if required)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3 tsp sugar
- 150ml vegetable/chicken stock (gluten-free if required)
Step 1: Begin by marinating the chicken strips in a bowl with the soy sauce and beaten egg white. Allow to marinate for 20-30 minutes.
Step 2: Next you are going to coat each piece of marinaded chicken in the cornflour which has had a pinch of white pepper stirred through it.
Step 3: In a wok, heat some vegetable oil over a high heat and then cook the floured chicken in batches, until crisp and golden. Remove from the pan and leave to drain on kitchen paper (it does not need to be cooked through at this stage as it will go back in the wok later).
Step 4: Add a little more oil to the wok and start to stir fry the onion, garlic, ginger and pepper. Cook over a high heat for three or four minutes and then reintroduce the chicken. Keep everything moving and after a couple of minutes, add all of the sauce ingredients. Stir for a couple more minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is thickened.
Serve immediately with rice.