A star dish of Chinese restaurants, this is a perfect balance of flavors between the richness of the battered fried chicken and the sweet-sour lemon sauce. There are many brands of lemon sauce in the market but nothing beats making your own. The trick in giving the sauce a yellow color is simply to use a little ground turmeric.
Ingredients: (Serves 4)
- 2 chicken breasts, skinned
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 30 ml/2 tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour)
- Vegetable or peanut (groundnut) oil for deep-frying
- Salt
For the sauce:
- 45 ml/3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 5 ml/1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 15 ml/1 tablespoon sugar or to taste
- 15 ml/1 tablespoon plum sauce
- 175 ml/6 fl oz water
- 5 ml/1 tablespoon cornstarch (cornflour)
Method:
Slice each chicken breast across the thickest part to give two thin escalopes. Then dip lightly in the beaten egg and coat with cornstarch.
Heat the oil in a wok or large pan and deep-fry the chicken until golden brown. Keep warm.
Mix together all the sauce ingredients, stirring well to avoid lumps. Bring the sauce to a slow simmer in a small pan and cook for 2 minutes. Blend the cornstarch with a little water and add, a little at a time, until the sauce is the consistency of pouring (half-and-half) cream. Season to taste with salt.
Slice the chicken into 2.5 cm/1 inch strips and place on a serving plate. Pour the sauce over and serve garnished with lemon wedges.