The Eldest Progeny loves General Tso’s.  Make no mistake here…we all love it.  But, he can be pretty passionate about it.  It’s sort of a benchmark for him, when he considers the quality of a Chinese restaurant.  We’ll see what he thinks about this version, which isn’t deep-fried and is a bit lighter, but loaded with flavor.You know, General Tso was a real person.  Though General Tso’s is thoroughly an American dish.  Zuo Zongtang, or General Tso, was born in 1812 in the Hunan Province of China, during the Qing Dynasty.  He’s best known for his military exploits, he also made contributions to Chinese agricultural science and education, promoting cotton cultivation in northwestern China.  This was as a replacement for cash opium and he established a large-scale modern printing press in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, which published Confucian classics.  So he was a rather complex man, much like the complexity of flavor that General Tso’s offers us.

My problem with General Tso’s chicken, if you want to call it “a problem”, is that while I tend to like/love the sauce on General Tso’s, sometimes the chicken is more breading than chicken.  I find that’s the case with any such breaded chicken, pork or shrimp, in some Chinese restaurants.  When I make my version of Sweet and Sour Pork/Chicken, I only bread the meat with cornstarch.  Cornstarch creates a light and very crispy, crunchy crust.  So, when those smart and talented people over at Epicurious posted their “lighter” version recently.  I thought it was definitely worth a look-see.   I made a couple of changes.  Because I absolutely love Szechaun pepper, I decided to toss some of those in, too.  I added some thick soy sauce.  If you’re not familiar with it, it resembles molasses (which you can substitute), in so much that it’s thick, slighty sweet, and slightly bitter.  I also added just a bit of ketchup…yeah, don’t get your apron in a bunch.  The sauce just tasted better with the ketchup, so get over it.  Before you begin, stir together the honey, soy sauce, garlic, vinegar, water, dark soy (or molasses), Sriracha, tomato paste, ketchup and ginger in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  Heat the your skillet over high heat; add the oil and the Szechuan peppercorns.  Stir-fry for 30 seconds, but watch them closely, so they don’t burn.  Also, they don’t stand directly over the pan, as they will give off some sinus-opening heat!  Remove the peppercorns and set aside.  Add half of chicken to the oil and cook, turning occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and a light brown crust forms, 5–7 minutes.Transfer chicken to a plate.  Heat remaining 2-3 tablespoons oil in the skillet over high. Add the remaining chicken and cook for 5 minutes; then add the chiles (you can add a few more depending on your heat preference) and cook, stirring occasionally.  Make certain the chiles make contact with bottom of pan; they will toast and become slightly puffed.  Continue to cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 1 minute more. Return first batch of chicken, and the Szechuan peppercorns, if using, to the skillet and toss to combine.  Give the sauce a good stir; pour it into the skillet and cook until sauce is reduced and thickened, about 2 minutes.  Pour out onto into a serving bowl, sprinkle with scallions and serve immediately.  I serve this with rice and Quick Roasted Sugar Snap Peas with Garlic and Ginger.