Recipe: Lemon Chicken in a Japanese Carbon Steel Wok

FULL VIDEO: Episode #17 Chinese Lemon Chicken in a Carbon Steel Wok .

Click here to see all Japanese wok models.

Lemon Chicken is often served in Asian restaurants, and it is also a very common dish made at home. Kids, too, love the crispy deep-fried chicken with fresh lemon sauce. The process is easy and straightforward. Carbon steel, cast iron, or stainless steel cookware is recommended for deep-frying.

• Many of the ingredients can be found in Asian grocery stores or on Woolworths online.
• Be careful of oil splattering in the process.

Ingredients

• 400-600g boneless chicken thigh (with skin or without skin) or breast
• Oil as needed. Use enough for deep-fry (Corn oil or peanut oil performs better.
• 10 cloves of garlic.

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 5 tsp soy sauce (for seasoning)
• 5 tsp soy sauce (for the sauce)
• 5 tsp Chinese cooking wine (the same amount of white vinegar or any cooking wine can substitute)
• 20g rock sugar (the same amount of honey can substitute)
• Sufficient amount of corn starch (potato starch for seasoning can substitute)
• 120ml chicken stock
• 100ml lemon & lime juice (from 1 lemon and 1 lime)
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 cup of water
• 1 green onion (cut into small pieces)

Steps

1. Cut chicken thigh into pieces. It can be with skin or without the skin.
2. Season with soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine. Let it sit for half an hour.
3. Add 1 tsp of cornstarch into the water. Mix well and set it aside.
4. Cut lemon and lime and squeeze into the mixture. Mix well and set it aside.
5. Cut at least 10 garlic cloves into pieces. Set it aside.
6. Add 5 tsp of cornstarch into meat. Stir well and let the mixture sit for 3 minutes.
7. Add an egg and stir well. Add another 5 tsp of cornstarch. This will help locking the juice inside the meat.
   
8. Add enough oil for deep-frying (usually 1/3 of the wok). Turn to medium high heat and let the oil heat up to 160 degrees. You may choose to use our Japanese deep fryer with a thermometer.
9. Add meat and deep-fry for about 5 minutes. Remove the meat.
10. Use high heat to bring the temperature to about 180 degrees.
11. Put meat in again and quickly remove the pieces after 30 to 60 seconds. You may repeat the process until each piece of chicken is crunchy enough. Usually twice is enough.
12. Remove meat and oil.
13. Leave some oil in the wok. Turn to medium low heat. Add garlic from step 5 and fry until the flavour is released.
14. Add rock sugar, chicken stock, soy sauce, lemon-lime juice (from step 4), and a bit of salt.
    
15. Add the starch water (from step 3) to the sauce. Wait until the sauce thickens. Add chicken and mix well.
16. Add some green onions on top and enjoy! You may also add some lemon slices as a garnish as well as some white sesame spread on top.

Additional information: 

1. Remember a reasonably heated pan and heated oil (not overheating) are key.
2. Users will need basic cooking techniques and common sense (understanding of proper heat control, knowing how to check the food periodically, and so on).
3. Heat level, Please note that the heat levels shown below are for general reference only. Every cooktop is different. The following ranges apply if 10 is the maximum.

• Low heat: the heat level is 1-2.
• Medium low heat: the heat level is 3-4.
• Medium heat: the heat level is 5.
• Medium high heat: the heat level is 7-8.
• High heat: the heat level is 9-10.

Click here to see all Japanese wok models.

COPYRIGHT WARNING: Content theft of any kind is immediately reported to Google, which results in ranking penalties. Original texts can be verified in Internet archives. My Cookware Australia® holds the copyrights for all the content on this site, including articles, product descriptions, and user guides.