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Cathay Chicken Breasts




Source of Recipe


by Laurel, from Pam on Comfort Food/Original recipe from Genia Lee's "The Cuisine of Cathay: The Culinary Culture of China"


List of Ingredients




2 whole pieces chicken breast
1 cup sliced almonds, with or without skins

Meat marinate:
1 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp dry sherry
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp green onion, chopped very finely
1 dash black pepper

Batter mix:
2 TBS corn starch
3 TBS self-rising flour
2 TBS water
6 cups frying oil
2 TBS cooking oil
1 tsp chopped garlic
2 cups vegetables (mix or match) such as broccoli florets, snow peas, Chinese cabbage, etc.
salt & pepper to season the vegetables

Recipe



1. If the chicken breasts are extra thick, slice them horizontally into halves.

2. Marinate the chicken breast in meat marinate for a few minutes.

3. To the marinated meat (marinate included) add the batter mix ingredients in sequence: corn starch, flour and water. If the flour gets lumpy, just patiently work it out. If the flour continues to fuss just let it sit for a few minutes and it may smooth itself out. The batter mix will assume the consistency of glue.

4. Spread the sliced almonds out on the counter to form a thin layer. Apply all surfaces of the chicken breasts to the layer of almonds. The gluey batter will insure that the sliced almonds stick to the chicken breasts tenaciously.

5. Deep fry the almond coated chicken breasts for 3 to 5 minutes at 350ºF until the almonds turn a golden color. Cut the breasts across the grain into bite sized pieces.

6. Stir fry the vegetables with oil and garlic and season to taste. Place the vegetables on the serving plate and top with the almond coated chicken breasts. Serve.

Genia's Notes:
1. Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while. I made this recipe just for something to do and surprisingly it has become one of the most popular dishes at our restaurant.

2. Coarsely chopped walnuts may be used in place of the chopped almonds. The dish is then called Walnut Chicken.

3. This is a convenient dish to prepare for parties. The chicken breasts can be marinated the night before and the batter can be mixed ahead of time. For larger parties the chicken may even be pre-coated with almonds and stacked on a bakery sheet with Saran wrap to keep the layers separated. And why not use a salad with a light dressing to line the serving plate?

4. If the chicken is too bland for some guests one can serve a dip sauce or salt along with the dish, such as peppercorn salt, soy sauce mixed with sesame oil and hot sauce.

5. My definition of one whole piece of chicken breast is one whole slab of breast out of one side of a chicken. According to this definition, one chicken has two whole pieces of chicken breasts. The strips of filet white meat underneath the breast are not included in the breast, but are good for this recipe.

6. While mixing the chicken with batter mix, it is safer to add less water first, and add more as needed, because each batch of starch takes up water slightly differently.

7. The amount of sliced almonds used depends more on the surface to be covered than on the amount of chicken used.