Lower Fat Baked General Tso's Chicken

This one is from the Rock Recipes website. It cuts fat and calories by baking the breaded chicken instead of frying it. This would also make a great sauce for grilled chicken wings.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• CHICKEN

• 3  lbs  boneless chicken thighs or 3  lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in strips
• 1  egg
• 2  tablespoons water
• 1  cup flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3  tablespoons ground ginger
• 2  teaspoons salt

• SAUCE

• 4  tablespoons soya sauce
• 4  tablespoons  rice wine vinegar (white wine vinegar is fine in a pinch)
• 1⁄4 cup water
• 2  tablespoons  toasted  sesame seed oil
• 2  tablespoons  hot  chili paste (use (to taste) or 2  tablespoons  hot chili sauce, if you don't like it very hot (use (to taste)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2  teaspoons cornstarch
• 3  minced garlic cloves
• 3  tablespoons  freshly grated ginger
• 1  cup sugar
• 1⁄4 cup water
•  rice (for serving)

Directions

1. Whisk together egg and 2 tbsp water to make an egg wash.
2. Combine flour, black pepper, cayenne pepper, ground ginger and salt in a shallow dish.
3. Dip the chicken pieces in the egg wash then dredge them in the flour mixture.
4. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and lightly drizzle or the tops with a little more olive oil.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25-3o minutes. Flip the pieces at half way through the cooking time.
6. While the chicken is baking, prepare your sauce. Don’t walk away from this sauce; it gets very hot when making the caramel base and can burn easily so pay careful attention while cooking it.
7. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, 1/4 c water, toasted sesame seed oil, hot chili paste, salt, corn starch, garlic and ginger. Set aside.
8. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and 1/4 c water.
9. Boil this over medium heat, watching constantly until the caramel starts to turn a light amber color and you can begin to smell the caramel.
10. When it reaches this stage, give the other ingredients in the bowl a quick stir to make sure the corn starch is dissolved then add it all at once to the hot caramel.
11. Be careful at this stage because this sauce can foam up considerably for a few seconds and it is very hot. Simmer for only few minutes and remove from the heat and allow to cool down slightly.
12. Toss the sauce with the cooked chicken pieces and serve over plain steamed rice.