General Tso's Chicken is sooooo over.

When I think of Chinese Takeaway, I think of Sweet and Sour dishes. In the UK, the most popular dish is Sweet and Sour Chicken, which is the equivalence of Orange Chicken and General Tso's. Now, I have already posted a recipe for Vegan Orange Tofu here on my blog before. Click here to check it out. 

This almost-too-easy dish is perfect for lunch or dinner, or just whenever you have the cravings. With only a few household ingredients (provided that you're Asian) you could have this plate steaming in front of you in no time.

Traditionally served with hot steamed rice or egg fried rice, however, I have served this with vegan egg fried rice and substituted egg with fried tofu, which turned out to be a success.

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Ingredients:

For deep fried battered cauliflower:

(1)
300 g cauliflower florets, cut into bite-sized
1/4 tsp fine salt
1/4 ground black pepper (optional)

​(2)
3/4 cup tempura flour
3/4 iced cold water

(3)
Vegetable oil for frying

General Tso's Sauce:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped
8 dried chillies 

(4)
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 light soy sauce
1/4 white vinegar
2 tablespoon sugar
+
​(5)
Corn starch slurry:
2 tablespoon water mixed with
1 tablespoon corn starch

**Put ingredients into groups as listed above to make your life easier**

Instructions: 

1. Grab a large bowl, add tempura flour* and iced cold water, mix well. 
You should get a viscous texture, not runny or watery (think hollandaise sauce).
Because each brand of tempura flour is different, this may affect the consistency of our batter.
If it's not thick enough, add more flour: 1 tablespoon each time until you reach the desired consistency.
2. Add cauliflower florets and spoon over the batter carefully, make sure each piece is fully coated. Pop the bowl back in the fridge.
3. Add oil to a wok or a frying pan, if you have a fryer- that's even better. Wait until the oil becomes hot. To check, stick a bamboo chopstick into the oil, if it starts to bubble around the chopstick, you know it's ready.

3. Fry the battered cauliflower on medium high heat until the outside becomes pale yellow, remove from the oil. Turn up the heat to high and re-fry the florets. This will make them extra crispy. Rest them on a cooling rack to drain out the excess oil.

4. In a separate bowl, add mirin, light soy sauce, white vinegar, and sugar [ingredients from (4)], stir well. Keep it close by.

5. Put a new wok on medium high heat, add oil and chopped garlic and ginger, stir fried until fragrant. Then, add dried chillies, stir fried for about 5 seconds, add the sauce mixture and stir. 

6. Once sauce starts to bubble, taste and season to your liking. If you like your General Tso's to be sweeter than my recipe, add more sugar.

7. When you are satisfied with the flavours, add cornstarch slurry (5) and stir until the sauce thickens and becomes clear, add the deep fried florets and mix well. Serve hot.