Asian Orange Chicken

 ASIAN ORANGE CHICKEN

This orange chicken is made with boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces, dredged, and then fried until goldenand crispy. The orange sauce is devine! It is a sweet orange sauce made with orange juice, vinegar, garlic, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, red chilli flake and orange zest. It is both sweet and spicy and full of flavor.

Here’s what you need:

• Chicken breast or thighs - which are a little more tender than breast meat, and stand up well to cooking over a high heat without drying out. They'll initially be coated in cornflour (cornstarch) to help the batter adhere to the chicken.
• The batter is made from a mixture of flour, egg, garlic salt, salt, pepper and water - which results in a lovely light batter.
• The sauce is made up from the zest of half an orange, juice of two oranges, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar (to counteract the acidity in the orange juice and zest), and rice vinegar - to add a little zing.
• We also need a flavourless oil with a high smoke point to fry the chicken in.
• I'm using vegetable oil.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Total time: 35 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

  

Chicken:

• 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts cut into bite-size pieces
• 3 Eggs whisked
• ⅓ cup Cornstarch
• ⅓ cup Flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• Water 
• Oil for frying

Orange Chicken Sauce:

• 1 cup Orange Juice
• ½ cup Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar or White Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce use tamari for a gluten-free dish
• ¼ teaspoon Ginger
• ¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder or 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
• ½ teaspoon Red Chili Flakes
• Orange Zest from 1 orange
• 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Garnish:

• Green Onions
• Orange Zest

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To make orange sauce:
2. In a medium pot, add orange juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and red chilli flakes.
3. Heat for 3 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, whisk 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 Tablespoons of water to form a paste.
5. Add to orange sauce and whisk together. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken.
6. Once the sauce is thickened, remove from heat and add orange zest
7. To make chicken:
8. Place flour and cornstarch in a shallow dish or pie plate. Add a generous pinch of salt. Stir.
9. 6 Whisk eggs in shallow dish.
10. Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then flour mixture. Place on plate.
11. (8 Heat 2 -3 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat.
12. Using a thermometer, watch for it to reach 350 degrees.
13. 9 Working in batches, cook several chicken pieces at a time. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes, turning often until golden brown. Place chicken on a paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat.
14. 10 Toss chicken with orange sauce. You may reserve some of the sauce to place on rice. Serve it with a sprinkling of green onion and orange zest, if so desired.