This is my “claytons” lemon chicken, the lemon chicken you are having when you are not having lemon. I wanted to re-create the lovely thick rich Chinese style lemon sauce and make it failsafe. This gluten free Thermomix tempura batter is just lovely and light, a perfect match for this sauce. I have been making it for ages and sad to say… It’s another I can’t remember where I found it. I have successfully used this batter with fish and calamari as well.
Lemon Sauce:
10 strands of saffron
2 tablespoons boiling water
360g water
1 teaspoon citric acid
30g Whiskey
80g golden syrup
50g Light brown sugar
1 Teaspoon garlic salt
40g Cornflour
Place saffron strands into a small bowl and pour 2 tablespoons of boiling water over the Saffron and allow to soak for 5 minutes.
Place remaining ingredients into the Thermomix bowl. Once the saffron has been soaking for 5 mins, add to the rest of the ingredients.
Cook on at 90°C for 7 minutes on speed 4. Pour into thermoserver to keep warm while cooking the chicken.
Tips: If you want more of a tang, add an extra 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon more of citric acid. Lemon is a flavour my kids are not used to, so I didn’t want to add too much, but I found that 1 teaspoon seemed to give it a nice balance of sweet and sour.
The 1st time I made this sauce I used Jameson Whiskey, the second time I used a cheaper Irish Whiskey (Finnlaigh) and it was nice, but didn’t seem as ‘smooth’ as the 1st time round. So quality obviously makes a difference. I use the Woolworths select Garlic salt.
Tempura Chicken:
150g white rice
2 egg whites
Pinch of salt
200g ice cold water
600g chicken breast, cut into bite sized chunks
Canola or Rice Bran oil for Deep frying
Place rice into Thermomix bowl and mill for 1:30 mins on speed 10.
Add egg whites, salt and water, and gently combine by setting dial to closed lid position. Mix together for approximately 10 seconds on Interval speed / Dough setting. Don’t worry if there are still lumps that is fine. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add small amounts of the chicken to the batter at a time and stir to coat. Deep fry the chicken in enough oil to submerge it. Once the oil is hot, gently drop each piece into the oil individually and deep fry until a light golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towel. Repeat until all the chicken is cooked.
Tips: Keep the tempura batter in the freezer while frying to keep it cool.
To serve: Serve Tempura chicken on a bed of rice, pour a generous amount of Lemon sauce over the top and garnish with sliced spring onions.
Looks great! I’m planning to try something similar, so now I know it should work.
Hi would this translate to normal cooking???
Hi Kristie, for the rice tempura I am not sure a food processor would work well enough to grind the rice. Maybe you could try mixing all the ingredients together with rice flour? To make the lemon sauce I would suggest making it in a saucepan but adding the cornflour mixed with a little water and keep whisking until it thickens nicely. Please let me know how you go if you try it. 🙂
Is there a substitute for the whiskey?
I can’t stand the taste or smell of alcohol even in cooking
Thanks
Hi Jodie, you could use the syrup from tinned pears to replace the whiskey.
This is great! Thanks for the wonderful recipe. I cooked the lemon sauce on the stove top in a saucepan, on low heat for a long time until it thickened up. Great flavor and consistency. Mr amine and salicylate intolerant is delighted to have another tasty sauce to choose from ? I also made a different tempura butter from a failsafe cookbook (rice flour + soda water) just because it was simpler, the crispy fried chicken was so delicious!