While I am not convinced that Daddy Wu’s Chicken is 100% Chinese, it sure is good! The sauce is marvelous. It is sweet, savory and lemony, all at the same time. The chicken will turn a dark brown color from the marinade and frying, but the taste is wonderful.
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 tbsp dry sherry
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp grated garlic
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seed oil
Chicken
- 6 chicken thighs skinless, boneless
- vegetable oil for frying
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup corn starch
Sauce
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes or baby plum tomatoes or a mix cut in half
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seed oil
- 1/4 tsp grated ginger
- 1 lemon zest and juice
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients before starting recipe.
Marinating Chicken
- Combine all marinade ingredients in a small bowl.
- Cut chicken thighs into 2" pieces and add chicken to a plastic zip lock bag. Add marinade and mix the chicken to cover all pieces. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, and up to overnight.
Sauce
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium sized sauté pan over medium high heat.
- Add thinly sliced onion to the sauté pan and cook for one minute. Add the tomatoes, cut in half, and cook for another minute.
- Add ketchup, chicken broth, brown sugar, oyster sauce, sesame oil, ginger and lemon juice and zest. Stir to combine and cook for a few minutes, or until the sauce thickens. 4-5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and keep warm.
Frying Chicken
- Remove chicken from refrigerator at least 30 minutes before frying.
- Crack eggs into a shallow dish and lightly whisk.
- In another bowl, mix flour and corn starch.
- Heat about a 1/4" of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Remove chicken from the marinade and discard any remaining marinade.
- Working in batches, dip the chicken in the eggs and then in the flour, corn starch mixture and drop the pieces into the hot oil. Do not crowd the chicken. Fry until the chicken pieces are golden, 3-5 minutes per side. Remove chicken to a paper towel lined plate and continue to cook until all pieces have been fried.
- Combine fried chicken pieces with the sauce. Stir to coat all the chicken pieces and serve over white rice.
Author Notes
Daddy Wu's Chicken comes with a story. The recipe was given to Rachel Ray by one of her staff members, who got the recipe from her father, Daddy Wu. I may have changed a few steps and ingredients, but it is largely the same.
I think that I would just make the sauce the next time and pair it with breaded chicken thighs or chicken tenders and probably skip marinating the chicken. It is definitely the sauce that makes this dish delicious!
