While there’s debate about the exact origins, it’s been associated with Zuo Zongtang, a military leader from Hunan province during the Qing Dynasty. The classic version of this dish has a distinctive tangy sauce with intense spices and savoury flavours native to Hunanese cuisine.

Slow cook with broccoli if you feel the dish needs some vegetables. Try and aim to get a slightly crispy char on the chicken before beginning the slow cook process. This adds texture and flavour (best done in a pan).



















How do you juggle the use of the rice cooker if doing this as a one-pot?
Hi James,
For this recipe it is loosely one pot. To achieve this you can cook both the rice and the Tso meal in one rice cooker but you would have to do them in separate stages. 1) Cook the Tso components first then 2) Cook the rice or vice versa. Whatever is cooked first you would reheat when ready to serve.
Great taste and actually pretty simple recipe!
You did not specify how much salt to add so I added 1tsp to the chicken breading and it was enough.
If you don’t have an enormous pan it might be a good idea to split the chicken between two pans (I had to). Also do not saute the chicken until brown, only until it is very lightly yellow or else it will be a little hard at the end.
Also, make double amount of the sauce and add the extra with in the last 15min as otherwise the rice will be a little dry.
I personally found that a double the garlic and a little less sugar improves the taste of the sauce.
Ideally you would make the rice after slow cooking the chicken as you can then leave it in the cooker and keep it warm, the chicken becomes too dry when kept in the cooker with the “keep warm” mode, but as it increases the already long cooking time of the whole thing I understand doing it the other way around.
Hello Taivo,
Thank you for your reply. You are correct about the salt and we have now added it to the recipe. Thank you also for your other suggestions which I’m sure our readers will find very helpful for those who want different results.
can you make this in the Panda mini rice cooker?
Hi Susanna, as it’s only the rice which is made in the rice cooker and Panda has a capacity of 3.5 cups, you can make the rice for this recipe in Panda and then follow the recipe for the rest of the dish in a saucepan.