Asian Orange Chicken
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Entrées - Brunch
PREP TIME
15 mins
COOK TIME
30 mins
TOTAL TIME
45 mins
INGREDIENTS
For Chicken Pieces:
3 boneless chicken breasts (pounded to about1-inch and cut into bite-size chunks)
3 eggs (whisked)
½ cup flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons salt
Sesame oil and canola oil for frying
For Orange Sauce:
1 ½ cups orange juice (I make it really strong from the frozen concentrate)
Zest from 1 fresh orange (after zesting, I usually eat half of the orange and squeeze the other half and add as juice in the sauce)
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
2 tablespoons Tamari Sauce (or regular soy sauce)
½ teaspoon fresh ginger (peeled and grated or ½ teaspoon dried ginger)
5 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon cornstarch (mixed with 2 tablespoons water for a paste)
INSTRUCTIONS
For Orange Sauce:
Get out a medium-sized pot. Add the orange juice, sugar, rice vinegar, Tamari sauce, fresh ginger, minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes ‘til bubbly.
While that’s cooking, get out a small bowl and stir together the cornstarch with the 2 tablespoons of water until you have a paste. Add the paste to the orange sauce and stir to blend.
Continue to stir until the mixture begins to thicken. Then, once thickened, remove the pot from the burner, add the orange zest to the sauce, and give it a stir.
Now, let the sauce sit on a cool burner while we cook the chicken.
For Chicken Pieces:
Get out 1 one-gallon-size zip lock bag and use your scissors to cut down one side. This way, it’ll be easier to insert the breasts, one at a time, into the bag, close the flap, and pound them down to 1 ½ inch size. After pounding the breasts, cut them into strips and then into chunks. Then sprinkle some salt onto the chunks and set aside.
Get out a long baking pan and add the flour and cornstarch to the pan and stir around a little to blend.
Get out a bowl and whisk the eggs together.
Then, dip your chicken chunks into the egg mixture, then into the flour-cornstarch mixture, and roll around until coated.
Get out a large skillet and fill it with about 2 inches of canola oil, along with a tablespoon of the sesame oil, and heat the oil over medium-high heat. (You can test the heat once the oil is hot by sprinkling a tiny bit of flour into the oil. If it sizzles, it’s ready.
You’re gonna want to work in batches so as not to crowd the chicken pieces. Then, brown the chicken pieces in the hot oil, about 3-4 minutes on each side. Once one side is browned and golden, flip it and brown the other side. Place on a plate lined with paper towel. Follow the same procedure until all the chicken is nicely browned.
Now get out a clean large skillet or pot and add the chicken pieces into the clean skillet and pour the orange sauce over the chicken pieces in the new skillet. Stir to coat the chicken and let that cook for another 4-5 minutes.
Serve over some long-grain white rice and garnish with some chopped green onion tips. YUM! This stuff is GOOD!