Unsuccessful velveting chicken

We dined with some friends at a Chinese restaurant one night. I've always been puzzled by the tenderness their stir-fried beef and chicken. So I decided to go on the web to find out what they do to the meat. What I discovered is that they use two tricks: tenderizing with baking soda and velveting. Velveting is to coat the meat with a thin layer of egg white and cornstarch so as to preserve its tenderness during cooking. After the coating, the meat is then fried in a pot of hot oil for a short time without over cooking. Being so stingy with my use of oil, I just couldn't bear to use a pot of oil. So my velveting turned into pan-frying! But the idea of coating egg white and cornstarch on some tender chicken fillet was a nice one. Next time I might just cut the chicken into smaller pieces and see if it would work with a little oil. Since frying used so much oil, I decided to fry more than just chicken. Tofu is a very good second dish to make when one does not want to waste frying oil. 



Recipe: Fried chicken fillet (for 3)


Ingredients:
- 2 slices of chicken tender fillet
- 1 TB cornstarch
- white of 1 egg
- 1/4 cup oil
- dash of salt and pepper


Procedure:
Cut tender fillet into very thin slices about 1/8" thick. Marinate chicken in a mixture of cornstarch, beaten egg white, salt and pepper for 20 minutes. Heat oil to hot on a flat pan. Keep stove on med-high. Fry one side until white to very light yellow. When the edge is white, flip to the other side. Fry the other side mildly, take out and place on paper towel to absorb oil. Serve right away with chili sauce or BBQ sauce.

The reminding oil and egg white can be used to fry tofu the same way. Use 1/3 pack of soft tofu. Cut tofu into 1.5" squares of 1/2" thick. Drain of water for 5-10 minutes. Dip into the remaining egg white and cornstarch mixture. Then fry in hot oil on low heat. Turn once when bottom side is golden. Serve with non-fat based sauce, such as hoisin sauce.


A vegetable side dish that goes very well with fried chicken is a simple sliced cucumber in vietnamese chili sauce.