Chinese Style Lemon Chicken

I could have sworn blind that I had blogged this recipe, but after a search, it appears not. This is too good not to share.

I'm a big fan of lemon chicken when I get a Chinese takeaway so I was really keen to attempt making my own at home, especially as I'd recently dusted off the Magimix Deep Fat Fryer we received as  a wedding present a few years back. I tend to have blasts of using it, then put it away for months on end.

I've found that making this crispy style Chinese dishes is a bit of a faff, especially as I tend to dribble batter everywhere but the end result is so good and always worth the effort. I wasn't confident that the sauce would turn out as it should but keep the faith, it all came good. Who knew that yellow food colouring was the trick to getting a bright yellow sauce?!

The only change I would make to this in the future would be to make double the sauce. It may not be strictly necessary for everyone but I like A LOT of sauce with my food and whilst there was enough to go around, more would be good.

I can't really tell you how many people this recipe serves as I halved the recipe and I am a pig but I think due to the amount of chicken, I'd say four would be a good aim.  The original recipe that I found on a recipe website was American so I have adapted it for us Brits!

Chinese Style Lemon Chicken

Ingredients

1.2kg diced boneless skinless chicken breasts

For the marinade;

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp salt

Batter;

2 large eggs

35g cornflour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 pinch white pepper

oil (for frying)

Sauce;

75g sugar

250ml chicken stock

1.5 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

3/4 tsp salt

3 slices of lemon (peeled)

2 tbsp oil

yellow food colouring

Method

Place the diced chicken into a large bowl and mix with the soy sauce and 1/2 tsp of salt. Cover the bowl with cling film and pop into the fridge for around 30 minutes to marinate.

After the chicken has marinated, prepare the batter. Beat together the two eggs with the 35g cornflour, a pinch of white pepper and the baking powder. Coat the chicken well in the batter.

Heat your deep fat fryer to 180c and fry in batches until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

The next step is to make the lemon sauce. In a bowl combine the sugar, cornstarch, chicken broth, lemon juice, salt and a couple of drops of the yellow food colouring. Mix well and add the sliced lemon to the bowl.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok and stir in the lemon sauce mixture.  Heat the mixture until the sauce starts to become clear, occasionally stirring.  

Remove the lemon slices before serving. Pour the sauce over the chicken and eat immediately.

I served this with steamed white basmati rice and it was delicious! If you don't have a deep fat fryer you could always do this in a wok, it would turn out the same.

Just writing this post has made me hungry now! Think I may need to put this on the menu next week.