Paleo General Tso’s Chicken

Hi everyone! Hope your weekend was as fantastic as mine. I am so happy that spring has decided to stay here in Jersey. There’s nothing better than opening up all the windows and putting all of my winter clothes in the attic.

Sophia enjoying open window season

Warm weather also makes me feel like cooking! Well, in truth, I love to cook and any time is a good time to cook something delicious. Lately I have been craving Chinese food like crazy, more specifically food from a Chinese buffet! I know, some of you may roll your eyes at this assertion but sometimes it’s the only thing that hits the spot. However, problems arise with this craving because I have been eating Paleo for the past eight months. For those of you unfamiliar with Paleo eating, please see this infographic.

The interesting thing about eating Paleo is that people always try to hack recipes to fit their style of eating, but this is not unique to Paleo eaters. (Think tofurky for vegetarians and vegans.) This is one of those recipes. So here goes.

Gather all ingredient for both the sauce and the chicken.

To make the batter for the chicken combine the eggs and arrowroot powder. Whisk together vigorously until it becomes a thick batter. The arrowroot powder replaces the traditional use of cornstarch.

Dice the chicken into inch-size pieces and combine with the batter. I let this sit to the side for a bit while I prepared the sauce mixture. I feel like the longer the chicken hangs out in this batter, the more will adhere to the chicken during cooking. I could be completely wrong, but it just felt so right. 🙂

My sous chef 🙂

It’s always important to have a sous chef. Buddy system ALL DAY.

For the sauce, combine rice vinegar, cooking wine, honey, tamari or coconut aminos, and arrowroot powder. It’s important to completely mix the sauce otherwise the arrowroot powder and honey collect in the bottom. Now on to the frying!

Now, you can cook this all in a wok for a one-pan meal, but I fried them on the side first to get a nice crispy texture on the outside. I put about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil into the pan and let it warm up on medium-high heat. Cook each side for about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of your chicken.

Also, use a splatter screen once the oil starts to reduce. Frying is a dangerous business. Move the chicken to a paper towel lined plate to drain. This part was done in about 4-5 batches.

Once the chicken is all done frying, it’s wok time. Put 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil into the wok and warm it on medium-high heat. Put in the dried red chilies – and this is where the magic happens. The oil gets all spicy and lovely. Only stir fry them for about 30 seconds or the magic will not happen and all you will have are burned chilies.

Now throw in all of your chicken and the sauce. Stir fry everything around until the sauce becomes all bubbly and oozy. If you like to live dangerously (like me), throw in some sriracha. Yeah, yeah, so store-bought sriracha is not exactly Paleo, but no one’s perfect. If you want to make your own Paleo sriracha, Michelle from Nom Nom Paleo has a recipe.

Pour your oozy chicken into a bowl and garnish with green onions. Dinner is served! If you’re feeling ambitious, I love to serve almost anything with stir fried bok choy.

Give the bok choy a rough chop. Remember, small pieces = quick stir fry.

Give the wok a quick rinse and throw in some coconut oil and garlic cloves. Once the oil is hot and the cloves are starting to tan, put in the bok choy. Stir fry this around for 1-2 minutes then add in a few splashes of tamari or coconut aminos. Stir fry until leaves are wilted and stems are tender.

So there you have it! A wonderful Paleo dinner. Like I said, it is a bit of a stretch for Paleo but you won’t be left with that after-buffet death-I-just-need-to-lay-down feeling.

Hope you all love this recipe as much as I loved making it!

And now I leave you with a lovely view from Punta Cana, DR.

Aloha!