Thursday 13 March 2014

Recipe of the Week - Chinese Style Lemon Chicken {Gluten free & Dairy free}

 

I've been meaning to share this recipe for weeks now as I was so excited when I discovered how to make this fabulous gluten free batter. In fact, since first making this dish I have been on the lookout for other things to cover in batter and deep fry. Yes, I know that sounds very like I'm falling into the stereotyped Scot deep frying Mars bars. Don't worry, I haven't gone that far! I have, however, made some rather lovely onion rings using the following batter recipe. But more of that in another post, as I fear I am digressing too much and still not getting round to this recipe!

 

I first tried out this dish the weekend of Chinese New Year, when I thought it would be fun to have our own wee Chinese style banquet. Chinese takeaways aren't much of an option with all the allergies in our house, and this homemade version also has the benefit of being much, much cheaper!

 

Oh, it was so delicious!

 

There are three bits to this - the marinade, the batter and the sauce - but don't let that put you off as they are all really straightforward.

Firstly the marinade:

Mix

1tbsp sherry

1tbsp wheat free soy sauce

Juice of 1 lemon

And then add about

2lbs chicken breast, chopped,

Leave to marinate for about 20 minutes. You can just leave it to marinade while you get on with mixing everything else together.

 

Now for the batter:

 

Whisk together

2 eggs

6 tablespoons of cornflour

 

And finally the sauce:

 

Mix together

5 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp cornflour

Juice of half a lemon

One lemon, sliced

100ml hot water

 

Now to put all the bits together.

- In a pan with a lid (I use our wok for this) heat up enough vegetable oil to deep fry your chicken pieces. Or you could use a deep drier if you have one.

- Lift your chicken pieces out of the marinade and cost in the batter then deep fry them in very hot oil until they are a golden colour. You will need to turn them to get the colour on both sides. It's also best to cook them in batches rather than trying to tip the whole lot in at once!

- Tip the cooked chicken pieces into a dish lined with kitchen towel to soak up some of the excess fat!

- While you are batch frying the chicken, in another pan pour in your sauce ingredients and gently heat up.

- Once all of your chicken is cooked, pour the sauce over the top. You could serve it up straight away but if you pop it in a moderate oven for about 10-15 minutes the sauce kind of soaks into the chicken and gives it even more flavour.

- Serve with fried rice and prawn crackers.

 

To make our fried rice I cooked our usual amount of rice. While it was draining I fried a chopped onion, added a few handfuls of frozen peas ( if you have no egg allergies you could also crack in an egg or two at this point) then tipped in the cooked rice. Add a few shakes of your gluten free soy sauce and mix it all together well.

 

Et voila! or whatever the Manderin equivalent is.

 

 

 

2 comments:

  1. This looks so, so good. I can't wait to give it a try. Its a definitely a favorite of mine, but I have never made it.
    You make it look like it would be easy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! That looks yummy! I love lemon chicken, especially when the batter has a crunchy texture, which is complemented by the aromatic taste of lemon sauce. Your fried rice also really looks tempting!

    Robert Hung

    ReplyDelete

I love reading everyone's comments, so thank-you for taking the time to leave them! I try and respond to them here too, so do check back later on.