Take-out Fake Out-- Crispy Lemon Chicken

I love making Chinese food at home.  It tastes just as good without all the added salt and MSG- not to mention it's a whole lot cheaper too.   I ripped this recipe out of a magazine a few years ago and it has become one of my favorites, even the kids love it!  The batter on the chicken is both light and crunchy and the lemon curd makes a great sauce served over jasmine rice. 

Now to warn you, there is a fair amount of multi-tasking to be done when making this recipe but after you do it a few times and get into a groove you will see that you can cut the prep time down significantly.  

The original version is deep fried and tastes just like take out, which is how I prefer it,  however other times I've also just sauteed everything together instead  in a little oil and it comes out great that way too.  Try them both!

What do I need???

- 3/4 cup lemon curd (in the aisle with the jelly)

- 1/3 cup rice vinegar (Asian food aisle)

- canola or peanut oil for deep frying

- 3/4 cup flour

- 1/2 cup cornstarch

- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 lb boneless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 lg red bell pepper cut into matchsticks
- 1 bunch of scallions cut into 2 inch pieces
- jasmine rice

Total Prep and Cook Time- 45 min, Serves 4

First make up the sauce.  In a bowl whisk together the lemon curd, rice vinegar, and 1/2 tsp salt. The original recipe called for 1 cup of the lemon curd but I thought it was  a bit too lemony that way so I cut the amount.

Then get your oil heating up in a large heavy bottom pot (or even better use a dutch oven if you have one, I had mentioned before it's one of my all-time favorite kitchen items!) You want the oil about 2 inches deep.  Use a candy thermometer to heat to 350 degrees. If you don't have one heat until a little bit of batter sizzles when you drop it in...

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and place a cooling rack on a baking sheet to keep chicken warm while you cook the batches. . .

While your oil is heating up start the rice, chop up your vegetables and cut up the chicken...

Now it's time to make the batter. Grab another medium sized bowl and whisk together 1 cup water, 3/4 cup flour, the cornstarch, baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt . .

Coat the chicken lightly in 2 tablespoons flour (you can do this in a large zip-lock bag). Then toss the pieces in the batter and then into hot oil carefully one at a time using tongs. 

You will need to separate the chicken into 3 batches so that you don't end up overcrowding the pan which will lower the oil temp.  Fry until golden, about 5 minutes.  Using slotted spoon transfer cooked chicken to the rack in the oven to keep warm... 

 Fry the remaining chicken, then add the peppers and scallions to the hot oil and fry until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and place on plate covered in paper towel to blot the excess oil. Then place in dish with cooked chicken. 

Pour lemon sauce over the chicken and vegetables and toss to coat.

Transfer to bowl and serve over rice, spooning extra sauce on top...

*Wanna switch it up?!!**

- substitute chicken breast or pork loin for thighs. 
- substitute orange marmalade for lemon curd 

Buon appetito!