For a long time, I’ve hid an extremely dark secret… I LOVE fake Chinese food AKA American Chinese food. A prime example is orange chicken. I’ve never even heard of that shit until I got to the States. My Chinese pride tells me to say no, but my inner fat kid is saying, eat it! Eat it ALL! That stuff is like crack. Unfortunately, it is NOT paleo. 99% of the Chinese take out menu is not. That said, I created Paleo General Rafs Chicken. My version of the General Tso’s chicken, but BETTER!
I remember the very first time I had ‘Merican Chinese. It was at my aunt’s house. They ordered take out and in it is the infamous orange chicken. My first thought was, “This is not Chinese food… what the heck is up with the overly racial containers???” I took a bite and thought… “That’s really sweet but damn that’s delicious!” It’s deep fried and tossed in a sweet and sour sauce. YUM! I see what the rave is all about. It’s not authentic but it sells like water in a dessert and very understandably so. Two things that our brains are wired to want more of, fried foods (fat) and sugar (pretty much crack).
There are two major components in this recipe. First, the fried chicken nuggets. Second, we have General Raf’s sauce. Both of these are wonderful to prep ahead and freeze. The nuggets heat up very crispy in the oven and the sauce can be heated in a pot of hot water or you can nuke it. It might look like a long ingredient list, but there are a lot of repeated ingredients. It’s I’m not going to bore you with any additional rambling, let’s cook some General Rafs Chicken!
Paleo General Rafs Chicken:
Chicken Nuggets:
Marinade:
2lbs – Boneless Skineless Chicken Thighs (1″ pieces)
3 Tbsp – Coconut Amino
1 Tsp – Garlic Powder
½ Tsp – Ground White Pepper
½ Tsp – Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 Tbsp – Bragg’s Nutritional Yeast
1 Tbsp – Tapioca Starch
2 Tbsp – Kasandrinos Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 – Pasture Raised Egg White
2 Tsp – Sea Salt
Dredge:
1 Cup – Otto’s Natural Cassava Flour
¼ Cup – Tapioca Starch
1 Tsp – Paleo Baking Powder
2 Tbsp – Bragg’s Nutritional Yeast
1 Tsp – Garlic Powder
½ Tsp – Ground White Pepper
½ Tsp – Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
1 Tsp – Sea Salt
Paleo Oil for Frying¹
General Raf’s Sauce:
6 Cloves – Fresh Garlic (Minced)
1 heaping Tbsp – Fresh Ginger (Minced)
2 Tbsp – Kasandrinos Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ Cup – Coconut Aminos
¼ Cup – Organic 100% Apple Juice
¼ Cup – Water
3 Tbsp – Raw Honey
1 Tbsp – Coconut Sugar
1 Tsp – Sriracha Hot Sauce
1 Tsp – Ketchup
¼ to ½ Tsp – Crushed Red Pepper
1 Tsp – Penzeys Smoked Paprika
Pinch – Black Pepper
2 Tsp – Otto’s Natural Cassava Flour
1 Stalk – Fresh Green Onion (Diced)
1 Tbsp – Fresh Cilantro (Finely Chopped)
1 Tsp – Toasted Sesame Seeds
1/4 Cup – Fried Shallot
Note¹: I used pasteurize lard from a local farmer
General Rafs Chicken Instructions:
1.) First step for General Rafs Chicken is to trim fat and dice BLSL chick thighs into 3/4 to 1 inch pieces. That way it cooks evenly and quickly.
2.) Toss all marinade ingredients together and marinate for 30 minutes.
3.) Mix all dredging ingredients together thoroughly. For General Rafs Chicken, you want this dredge to be
4.) Heat 2 tbsp of EVOO in a sauce pan. Cook garlic and ginger. Before it browns, add in coconut amino and apple juice.
5.) Add in the water, honey, coconut sugar, crushed red pepper, Sriracha Sauce, ketchup, crushed red pepper, and black pepper.
6.) Let it simmer for a minute or two and take it off the heat but keep it in the pan. Sprinkle in Otto’s Cassava Flour and make sure to stir it until there are no lumps. Bring the sauce back to a simmer and it will start thickening. As soon as it thickens, the General Rafs Chicken sauce is ready.
7.) Heat the lard to 325-350°F. Dredge the chicken and shake off all excess flour. Gently submerge the floured chicken in the hot oil and fry it for 4-5 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Filter you fry oil through a coffee filter. Heat it daily and it will keep for a week. Cool completely and it will keep frozen for a month.
8.) Toss fried chicken in General Raf’s sauce, diced green onions, cilantro, sesame seeds and fried shallots. Put that over a bed of rice or cauliflower rice and enjoy. There you have it, my General Rafs Chicken and until next time, eat up, my friends!
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