From SSMNITA@aol.com Tue Feb 18 14:04:01 2003 Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 00:36:30 +0000 (UTC) From: SSMNITA@aol.com Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes Subject: Chinese Lemon Chicken Followup-To: rec.food.cooking, rec.food.recipes Chinese Lemon Chicken Unknown (Serves 4) 2 each double skinless chicken breasts 1 egg 1/2 cup cornstarch for dipping Peanut Oil for shallow frying Marinade: 1 tsp sesame oil 2 tsp rice wine, vinegar or sherry 2 tsp corn starch Sauce: 1 large lemon 1/3 cup water 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar 1/3 cup dark brown sugar Cornstarch/water mixture for thickening Separate chicken pieces into two halves and 'open them by butterflying the thicker parts. This levels out the thickness so they will cook evenly. Marinate chicken 30 minutes. For the sauce slice the lemon into very thin slices. Remove seeds. Add the water, brown sugar and vinegar to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil and simmer until lemon slices are soft. The skins will almost turn brown as they caramelize and are delicious. Thicken the sauce with a cornstarch/water mixture and cook until transparent. Break an egg over the marinating chicken and mix well. Dip chicken pieces in cornstarch and shallow fry. Remove chicken to chopping board and chop into pieces. Serve over a bed of rice and spoon the sauce over the breasts. Notes: Chinese usually serve meat in bite size pieces as chopsticks are the utensil of choice. I don't know about today in China, but the chef's cleaver was at one time about the only knife in a Chinese household. Shallow frying is the technique of using just enough oil on the bottom of the skillet or wok to fry the chicken breasts. Deep frying is just not necessary; and if deep frying is not done just perfectly at the correct temperature, etc your chicken will absorb far too much oil than you need. I cook only with peanut oil. It has a high temperature smoking point, and is just next to Olive Oil in healthy anti-cholesteral attributes. -- Rec.food.recipes is moderated; only recipes and recipe requests are accepted for posting. Please send recipes, requests, questions or comments to Moderator Patricia Hill at recipes@swcp.com Please allow several days for your submission to appear.