YUM: Valentine Dinner = Complete Success

Woohoo! It's cookin time!  General Tao's Chicken made the Vegetarian way (Yes, I eat a lot of vegetarian food.  No, I'm not a full-fledged vegetarian.)

SO...since Jeff has a crying problem, he threw on my sunglasses and got to chopping the onions.  We used 1 onion less than the recipe from Vegweb.com called for.

 We also threw in some broccoli to sautee.  I love broccoli!

 Morning Star Chik'n Strips are more bomb than 1999.  Try them! 

 Here's our whole battering, or as I like to call it, "antiquing" process:

 And into the cornstarch, you go.

 

 Here were our ingredients.  We will definitely be making this again with so many leftovers!

 Pre-frying.

Mid-frying.

 Post-everything! YUM!!!

 

 Time to eat!

This dish rules.  Next time...a tad more sugar and we'll be as good as gold!

Recipe time:  General Tao's Chk'n.

12 ounce box firm tofu, in 1" cubes (frozen and thawed)  OR Morning Star Chik'n (That's what we did!)
1 egg or egg replacer prepared
    3 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons water, divided
    3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon cornstarch, divided
    vegetable oil (we used virgin olive. Made no difference) for frying + 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
    3 green onions, chopped
    1 tablespoon minced ginger
    1 tablespoon minced garlic
    2/3 cup vegetable stock
    1/4 cup granulated sugar
    2 tablespoons soy sauce
    1 tablespoon white vinegar
    1 tablespoon sherry, optional
    red pepper, to taste
    steamed broccoli, to serve

By the way...we had no idea what "divided" meant.  We just kept ingredients away from each other. 

1. Mix the egg and add an additional 3 tablespoons water.  Dip tofu/Chik'n in egg mixture and coat completely.  Sprinkle 3/4 cup cornstarch over tofu and coat completely.  Watch out that the cornstarch doesn't clump up at the bottom of the bowl.

2. Heat oil in pan and fry tofu pieces until golden. Drain oil. Heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil in pan on medium heat.  Add green onions, ginger, and garlic; cook for about 2 minutes.  Be careful not to burn garlic. 

3. Add vegetable stock, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, sherry, and red pepper. 

4. Mix 2 tablespoons water with 1 tablespoon cornstarch and pour into mixture stirring well.  Add fried tofu/Chik'n and coat evenly.

Serve immediately with steamed broccoli over your choice of rice.

Serves: 4, Preparation time: 30 Minutes