Lemon Chicken

     Back before Dragon Chinese Kitchen got new owners and went downhill (although I hear it is getting better), we used to go there quite often for dinner. In fact, we went so often that we didn't even have to tell them our order, they would tell it to us and ask if that was correct. I wouldn't call it obsessed, but nine times out of ten, that's where we went for dinner when we went out.
     Dragon had a delicious Lemon Chicken. We decided that the sauce on it tasted a lot like the filling for the Lemon Meringue Pie that I make. That is where the inspiration for this dish came from. However, I am just now getting around to making it.
     For the sauce, I used the recipe for an 8-inch Lemon Meringue Pie that can be found in "Betty Crocker's Cookbook" from 1978 (an oldie, but a goodie) as a guideline. It is as follows:

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          1 cup sugar
          1/4 cup sugar
          1 cup water
          2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
          2 T margarine or butter (I use margarine)
          1 tsp grated lemon peel
          1/3 cup lemon juice
          2 drops yellow food color (optional)

     Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Stir in water gradually. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir one minute. Stir at least half of the hot mixture gradually into egg yolks. Blend into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat; stir in margarine, lemon peel, lemon juice, and food color.

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     As I said, I used this as a guideline. I did not, have not, and NEVER will use food coloring. When you use real eggs and not those fake imposters you buy at the store, there is no need for food coloring. Also, I used about 3/4 cups of lemon juice because I wanted this to be a little bit runnier than it should be for a pie because it was going on top of something, not standing alone.
     For the chicken, I took two chicken breasts and cut them into Chinese Food size (Yes, Chinese Food is now a size). After cutting them up, I patted the pieces dry in between a paper towel. I do not remember where I heard this tip, but it helps to make the coating stick better. I then did your basic dip it in flour, then egg, then flour again. To do this, I took the egg whites that were left over from making the sauce plus one whole egg and about 5 T of water and mixed that together. For the flour, all I did was season it a little bit with some salt and pepper.
     While I was flouring the chicken, I had a pan on the stove with about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in it heating up (I had the burner turned onto 6, a little above medium). Once that was warm enough (tested by putting a little bit of the goo that was created from the excess egg and flour on my fingers and having it start to bubble and sizzle), I began to put a few pieces of chicken in at a time. I then let the chicken pieces fry until they were a golden color (about five minutes), turning them every so often.
     When it came time to take the chicken out of the pan, I used a scoop thingy (very technical terminology here) and put the chicken in a container that was lined with paper towels and covered it with a lid to keep it warm.
     This is where the debate began. Should I put the chicken in a bowl and mix in the sauce or do I let people put on the sauce when they dish up? After a quick poll of the family, we determined that it would be best to let people put their own on because then the chicken would not be soggy the next day as leftovers.
     While the chicken was cooking, I had a pot of rice cooking. We like Mahatma Jasmine Rice because it has a great flavor and if you have any left over, it does not dry up like most rice so you can eat it the next day no problem.
     When everything was done, it was time for the best part; EATING!!! We had ours in bowls with a couple scoops of rice on the bottom then some pieces of chicken with the lemon sauce drizzled (Spooned? Dropped? Scooped? Take your pick.) on top. Dad said that he is going to either use a bigger bowl or a plate next time so he can cut the pieces up easier. However, I felt that it worked just fine in a bowl as I would just eat the chicken in a few bites off of the fork rather than cutting it up. I know, I know, that's not very lady-like, but I was eating in my own home, not at some fancy restaurant.
     It was very good. Dad tried putting a little bit of ground ginger on top and that made it even better, so next time I make it, I am going to put some ground ginger in the flour mixture.
     And now, pictures!!! Feel free to drool, just take care to not drool on your computer as that will possibly cause some problems. That would be no bueno.

See how wonderfully yellow those yolks are? That's from real eggs.

The sauce goes from this...

...to this.

This is what it looks like after the eggs, lemon juice, and margarine have been added.

The Chinese Food sized pieces of chicken.

The assembly line. See that black thing? That's the "scoop thingy" I talked about earlier.

Into the frying pan. To borrow a quote from The Lion King, "hippity-hop, all the way to the birdie boiler."

The chicken post-frying pan.

 

All dished up and ready to eat.

     I think I have successfully convinced Mom to make her Eggflower Soup to go with this next time we have it. It isn't really necessary to have it as this would make a great meal on its own, but what's Chinese Food without Eggflower Soup and Tea? I confess that I did not have tea with it this time as I didn't think about it until I was halfway through the bowl. I will, however, most likely be having a cup when I am done writing this post.

     I usually end my posts with a quote and this time since it is a post about Chinese Food, I thought it would be fitting to end with something that one might find in a Fortune Cookie.

"A quiet evening with friends is the best tonic for a long day."