Iron-grilled Spring Chicken
A classic Zhejiang dish: boneless tender chicken is pounded flat, coated in batter, fried to a golden crisp, then topped with a sweet and sour tomato ketchup glaze, with fresh tomato slices arranged around the serving plate as garnish.
Ingredients
Tender chicken (de-haired, innards cleaned, deboned, sliced into thick pieces, meat tenderized with the back of a knife)
200 g
Egg (beaten and mixed with starch as a batter coating)
1
Tomato (sliced into thick pieces to ring the edge of the plate)
150 g
Tomato sauce (for sautéing and seasoning)
50 g
Sugar (for the sauce)
2 tbsp
Vinegar (for the sauce)
2 tbsp
Starch (part for batter coating, part for thickening)
1.5 tbsp
Light soy sauce (for marinating)
0.5 tbsp
Cooking wine (for marinating)
0.5 tbsp
Ginger (smashed, for marinating)
1
Scallion (smashed, for marinating)
5
Fine salt
3 tsp
MSG (for the sauce)
1 tsp
Peanut oil (for frying the chicken)
1000 g
Clear stock (for the sauce)
to taste
Instructions
1
Marinating
Remove the feathers from the chicken, clean the innards, debone it, and slice into thick pieces. Tenderize the meat by pounding it with the back of a knife. Add ginger slices, scallion segments, fine salt, and light soy sauce and let it marinate briefly. Pick out the scallion and ginger, then add the egg and starch and mix well so the chicken is evenly coated, finally dredging in dry starch.
2
Frying
Lower the chicken into vigorously hot oil and fry until golden brown, then remove. Cut the pieces and arrange them on a serving plate.
3
Pouring the sauce
Heat a little oil in the wok, add the tomato sauce and stir-fry until fragrant. Add clear stock, sugar, vinegar, and MSG to make the sauce and bring it to a boil. Thicken with starch, then pour the sauce over the chicken. Slice the tomatoes into thick pieces and arrange them around the edge of the plate as a garnish.
