Lemon Chicken Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Lemon Chicken Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 10 minutes plus 30 minutes marinating time if using breast
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes: 4 serves
Ingredients Needed
For marinade
- 600g/1.3lbs chicken breast or boneless chicken thigh
- 1 teaspoon bicarb (optional, for chicken breast)
- 60ml/2flozs soy sauce
- 25ml/1floz Shaoxing wine
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon sugar
For Batter
- 100g/3.5ozs tempura batter mix (see sub below)
- 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs chilled soda water
For lemon sauce
- 1 cup/250ml/8.8flzos chicken broth
- 120g/4ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- 55ml/2flozs lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cornflour/fine cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons cold water
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 CHICKEN - Cut chicken breast into thin slices and then cut these in half so that they're small and thin pieces (don't forget the batter adds weight). Mix well with the bicarb and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Rinse under cold running water over a sieve for 45 seconds tossing with your hands making sure that every trace of bicarb is gone. Tip: while the chicken is velveting, steam some rice.
Step 2 MARINADE - Mix the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, ginger, garlic and sugar together in a bowl and toss the chicken in this marinade. It doesn't need long, only about 5 minutes while the oil heats up and you make the batter.
Step 3 - BATTER - Heat 2 inches of oil in a deep fryer or a cast iron pot and when it reaches 180C/350F. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Add the soda water and stir to combine. Allow the excess marinade to drip off the chicken and dredge the pieces of chicken in the batter and fry in 4-5 batches for 3 minutes without touching, then turn over and fry on the other side for 2 minutes. Place on a double paper towel lined plate.
Step 4 SAUCE - Whisk the chicken broth, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, rice vinegar and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes. In a bowl whisk the cornflour and water until a smooth liquid and turn off the heat. Stir this into the sauce. Serve the sauce at the table so that everyone can add as much as they like.
Substitution notes:
Shaoxing wine can be subbed with a dry sherry, sake or soju. You can also omit this or replace it with some chicken stock or verjus if you're looking for a non alcoholic alternative.
Tempura flour can be subbed with 75g/2.7ozs plain all purpose flour & 25g/1oz cornflour/fine cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Whisk together.
Rice vinegar can be subbed with white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
Personal Note
Sometimes nothing will satisfy like a succulent Chinese meal especially if we are travelling. My friend Sophia and I recently went to the Southern Highlands where we had a fantastic Chinese meal with mongolian lamb, sweet and sour pork and chow mein. Sophia's family are from Hong Kong although like me, she grew up here and I knew that if I suggested that we go for Chinese food she'd probably say yes and enjoy it.
Originally I was going to the Southern Highlands with Mr NQN but he had a wedding to go to. I didn't want to go by myself so I invited Sophia to come along. Sophia was happy to share a room but I am not really used to sharing a room with a friend. The only person I'm used to sharing with is Mr NQN. Usually when Laura comes along she gets her own room and Monica and I have shared a bathroom but had our own rooms.
Thankfully we both liked the same temperature for the room and were considerate of each other's space in the bathroom doing things like splitting the shelf space evenly. She likes to take the toiletries and teas with her whereas I usually leave them so there was no quibbling over that. It was a fun weekend.
Then she told me the secret to her being able to share rooms. She often travels with her 3 sisters and she told me how they usually book a high end hotel but have four girls in each room but they tell the hotel there are just 2 of them. I think they've got it down to a routine because she told me that nobody ever says anything!
So tell me Dear Reader, would you be good at sharing a room with a friend? And do you like lemon chicken?