I've read about a hundred orange chicken recipes online and after playing around with it, I've created one that I love! As usual, I have a couple of comments to make before getting down to the nitty-gritty.
First, a word about vinegar. One of the commonest complaints about any recipe I saw was an unpleasently strong vinegar taste. The reason for this was easy to see. Without exception, the recipes called for white (or distilled) vinegar. Distilled vinegar is a cleaner. PLEASE don't use this to cook with. Despite it's lower acidity, it has a much harsher flavor than other vinegars on the market and easily overwhelms anything you put it in. I have used both white wine vinegar and (the even more mild) rice wine vinegar in this recipe successfully.
Secondly, the oil. This recipe calls for the chicken to be deep fried. You can absolutely used grilled or roasted chicken or even grilled extra firm tofu for a healthier version that will taste a little different, but deep fried is the classic way. I don't have one of those little Fry Daddy things that stores oil for the next use so I just buy a bottle of oil that I only use for this. After I've done my frying I let the oil cool, run it through a strainer and put it back in it's bottle. That bottle is kept out in my garage. Now those of you who eat this stuff at my house know my secret! This is much cheaper than buying new oil every time you fry. I usually replace mine after five or six uses.
Thirdly, bowls. I end up using six, most of them small. You don't have to use bowls but since the assembly is basically that of a stir-fry, you'll be less likely to burn things if they're in bowls ready to be dumped than if your trying to pick up piles of things. So, yes - dishes to clean. Sorry.
Lastly, three-quarters of the battle in this is prep work, so I've written this recipe in what I find to be the most efficient order. This recipe can certainly be done from start to finish in under 30 minutes. It would take even less time if you were to buy chicken in bulk, chunk it and freeze it in two pound amounts - which I plan on doing since I know I'll be making this regularly. Also, this is a very 'orange-y' and slightly sweet orange chicken. If you like yours more savory you can use less zest and replace the orange juice with water or chicken stock.
Off we go, then!
Ingredients:
2 pounds of chicken (I use breast meat but you can use thighs if you like dark meat)
1 medium orange, zested and juiced (approx. 3 Tbs orange juice - can be replaced with water or chicken stock)
3 Tbs light soy sauce (do not use the full-sodium one, you'll be sorry)
2/3 c. white wine or rice wine vinegar
2/3 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. + 1 Tbs cornstarch
2-3 Tbs oil, plus oil for deep frying
1 egg
1 1/2 tsps salt
black pepper, to taste
1 Tbs minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 c. green onions, chopped + any additional for garnish
1/2-1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 c. water
Sesame seeds, toasted or not, for garnish
1. First off, get your frying oil in a pot and heating over med-high heat (6-7 on an elec. stove top). It will need to be 375 degrees F. If you have a thermometer, stick that baby in. If you don't, test it with a few drops of water before you begin. The water drops should bubble nicely immediately, but not splatter violently. I'm not sure how better to explain that verbally, sorry. Next, get your rice cooking on a back burner or in your rice cooker. (You are serving this with rice, right?)
2. The Bowls. Bowl 1: Combine the zest and juice of your orange, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. Bowl 2: Beat egg with 1 Tbs oil, salt and black pepper. Bowl 3: Combine flour and 1/2 c. cornstarch. Now, to the knives. Bowl 4: Minced ginger and garlic . Bowl 5: Chopped green onions and crushed red pepper flakes. Bowl 6 (the big one): The chicken, cut into 1-inch chunks.
3. Frying. Once your oil is hot, pour the beaten egg mixture over the chicken pieces and stir to coat. Next pour in the flour cornstarch mixture and stir to coat. It won't necessarily look pretty, but it works. Place coated chicken pieces in oil in two or three batches. Cook for 4 or 5 minutes until slightly golden. They won't be the color of classic 'fried chicken' so don't try for that deep golden brown color, it will overcook the chicken. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.
4. Assembly. This is QUICK! Place a wok or frying pan over high heat (7 or 8 on elec. stove top). When it's hot, put in 1-2 Tbs of oil and immediately follow with the minced garlic and ginger. Cook, moving the pan or stirring constantly for about 10 seconds. DO NOT LET THIS BURN! Toss in the green onions and red pepper flakes and stir for about 3 seconds. Next dump in the orange-soy-vinegar sauce and let it come to a boil. During the 5-10 seconds you're waiting for that to happen, combine the water and 1 Tbs of cornstarch (in one of your used bowls) to make a slurry. Add slurry to pan and cook until sauce is the consistency of a thin gravy. You should be able to run your spoon along the bottom of the pan and see the clean bottom for a couple of seconds. Once it's thickened, remove from heat and stir in chicken pieces. Pour into serving bowl and garnish. Serve and enjoy!
Yield: 4 one-cup servings.
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