Lemon chicken

This dish has been a favourite in our house for a while. I developed it as a way of using some of the lemons my boyfriend's mum would bring us in the summer. It's a taste sensation of sweet and sour. The chicken is crispy and juicy and oh-so-delicious.

There's a lot of sauce in this dish.. mainly because I increased my original quantities by half... we love the sauce that much!

Lemon Chicken (Recipe by Stef @ Essential ingredients)

Serves 4

Serve with boiled rice and steamed greens.

Ingredients

Vegetable oil

600 gr chicken thigh meat

3 egg whites

1 ½ tbsp cornflour

½ tsp salt

8 spring onions

Lemon sauce

1 ½ tbsp cornflour

150 ml chicken stock

¾ c lemon juice (3­–4 lemons)

3 tbsp honey

2 ½ tbsp white sugar

Step 1: Prepare the lemon sauce

Mix the cornflour and 3 tbsp of the chicken stock in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the remaining chicken stock, lemon juice, honey and white sugar. Stir to combine. Increase the heat to a medium-high heat and bring the sauce to the boil. When the sauce reaches boiling point, decrease the heat and simmer the sauce for a further 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside until needed.

Step 2: Preparing the chicken

Pour the oil into a wok or saucepan until one-third full. Heat over medium-high heat until hot.

Slice the chicken into cubes. Whisk the cornflour, salt and egg whites together. Add the chicken to the egg white mixture and coat.

Step 3: Cook the chicken

Fry the chicken in the hot oil in small batches. Once the chicken is cooked, set aside on a paper towel to drain.

Step 4: Combine chicken and sauce

Drain the oil from the wok. Return all the chicken to the wok and heat through for 3 minutes. Add the lemon sauce and the sliced shallots to the chicken and toss to coat the chicken. Cook until the sauce becomes “sticky”, about 3 minutes.