General Tso's chicken with jasmine rice

Method

1. Pat the chicken, cut into 2 cm cubes by the butcher, dry with kitchen paper. Finely chop the garlic and ginger, slice the spring onions, keeping white and green parts separate, and break the chillies in half, discarding the seeds. In a bowl, mix the sauce: 70 g water, 30 g soya sauce, 10 g white wine, 30 g rice vinegar, 30 g sugar and 8 g cornflour. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
2. Mix the chicken with 7 g soya sauce, 5 g white wine and the beaten egg, then refrigerate for 10 minutes. Do not add salt: kosher chicken is already salted and the sauce provides the rest.
3. Prepare the sauce while the chicken marinates. If using sesame seeds, toast them in the dry 26–28 cm sauté pan over a medium heat for 2 minutes, until pale golden and nutty-smelling, then set aside in a small dish. In the same pan, heat 15 g sunflower oil, 1 generous tbsp, over a medium-low heat. Add the chillies, garlic, ginger and spring onion whites and stir for 30–40 seconds: they should sizzle and release their fragrance without colouring. Add the tomato purée and stir constantly for 30–45 seconds, until darker and glossy. Stir the bowl of sauce, as the cornflour settles to the bottom, and pour it in immediately to stop the frying.
4. Bring the sauce to the boil, stirring for 1–2 minutes. It should thicken suddenly, form large, slow bubbles and become glossy. It should be as thick as hot syrup, thick enough to cling to the back of a spoon without running off. Taste, adding a splash of soya sauce if it needs salt or a splash of vinegar if it is too sweet. Turn off the heat and leave in the sauté pan.
5. Spread the 80 g cornflour in a dish. Roll the chicken in it piece by piece, letting excess egg drip back into the bowl, and press to form small craggy edges. Wait 3 minutes: the powder should adhere and become damp in places. Discard the remaining raw marinade and excess cornflour.
6. Pour the 450 g oil into the 18 cm saucepan, to a depth of about 2 cm and never more than one-third of the pan's height, and heat over a medium-high heat. Start the rice at the same time: rinse, put in the 16 cm saucepan with 270 g water, bring to the boil, cover and cook over a very low heat for 12 minutes. Leave to rest, covered, off the heat for 10 minutes. It will finish resting during the second frying.
7. For the first frying, heat the oil to 160–165°C. Without a thermometer, a pinch of moistened cornflour dropped into the oil should sizzle immediately and rise, bubbling; a wooden chopstick dipped into the oil should become covered with small, steady bubbles. Fry the chicken in three batches for 3 minutes per batch, separating the pieces with a slotted spoon. They should emerge pale blond and firm, but not yet golden. Place on the wire rack, uncovered, and allow the oil to return to temperature between batches.
8. For the second frying, increase the heat and bring the oil to 190°C: the chopstick should produce rapid, closely packed bubbles and the oil should shimmer without smoking. Fry all the chicken again in two batches for 60–90 seconds. The crust should turn deep golden and make a dry sound when tapped with the slotted spoon. Cut the largest piece in half: it should be white at the centre with clear juices. For 2 cm cubes, double frying for 3 minutes then 1 minute is enough. Drain on the rack and turn off the heat under the oil.
9. Reheat the sauce over a high heat for 30 seconds, stirring, until bubbling, adding 1 tbsp water if it has thickened too much while waiting. Turn off the heat, add the chicken and turn for 20–30 seconds to coat: each piece should be glazed, with no pool of sauce at the bottom. Off the heat, drizzle with the sesame oil, add the spring onion greens and toss once more.
10. Fluff the rice with a fork, divide between two plates, top with the glazed chicken and scatter over the toasted sesame seeds, if using. Serve immediately: the crisp coating softens if the chicken sits in the sauce.