Orange Chicken

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Orange Chicken. Sometimes you gotta have it. No matter where you are. And those times when it impossible to find, well, you gotta make your own, don’t ya?

Our Orange Chicken originated on a summers night back in 2013. I was on my way out the door to go to a spin class and I turned around and said in passing “man, I could really go for some Orange Chicken”. When I returned home and hour and half later to our Korean apartment, the air was filled with mouth watering scents of spices and citrus. That’s right. My amazing husband not only watched our 3 kids 3 and under so I could have some “me” time at the gym, but he took something I said in passing and made it happen. That’s straight out of a dream for any mamma I know. Reason #5,687,954 as to why I love this man.

Better Than Takeout

This is not some gooey, gluey, mess like a lot of take out restaurants get you. With a little technique and attention to ingredients, you’ll get crunchy chicken that’s bursting with bright orange sweetness, ginger, soy, garlic and some heat added in too.

Over the years Nathan has made this Orange Chicken recipe many times for so many of our friends and family. In fact, it’s probably one of the most requested meals we make when we have visitors come to town (right next to our grilled and basted cowboy steaks, but I mean who doesn’t love a good steak).

The most time consuming part of this whole meal is the preparation and frying of the chicken. Actually, it’s fried twice. That’s the secret to get that nice crunch to each bite. But if you are in a rush, you can skip the second frying. Or if speed is of the absolute essence, you can skip frying the chicken all together and just sauté the chicken in oil with a little salt and pepper.

But usually, this is not not a fast meal to whip up in 30 minutes before putting the kids to bed after a late soccer practice. This is one of those “event meals.” As in we make a big deal out of them when we make them. Multi-tasking during this recipe only consists of conversation, sipping wine, and saying “oooo”, “ahhhh”, and “yum, that smells good”. We usually set aside an hour or two for these type of meals and don’t rush ourselves.

Tips for perfection

• Steam and then blanch your broccoli: Add your broccoli to a pan over medium heat with about a 1/4 of a cup of water and cover. After about 10 minutes, start checking for doneness by piercing with a fork. When done to your liking, move all of the broccoli to a large bowl filled with cold water and add lots of ice as well. This will halt the cooking process and keep your broccoli looking bright green.
• Rinse your rice beforehand: Rinse the rice in a colander or in a pot (changing the water frequently) until the water runs clear. This removes the majority of the starch from the rice and will not make the rice sticky when it cooks. This is a thorough process it get it right, so it can take a little while to get it all washed off.
• Keep the oil at the right temperature: Like all things there is a right and wrong. If the oil is too cold it will not fry correctly and the chicken batter will flake off creating a large mess. It’s best to use a temperature gun for this.
• Make the Sauce Last: After frying all of your chicken, steaming the broccoli, and rice, the last step should be to make the sauce. This way everything will have a chance to heat back up in the freshly made sauce and have the best flavor. But don’t let too much time pass from when you finish frying the chicken! Otherwise you will loose that crunchy texture if the chicken sits out on the counter for a long time.

Ingredients: The Chicken

• 2 Chicken breasts or 4-6 Chicken Thighs
• 2 Large eggs
• 6 Tb of Corn Starch
• 1 Tsp of Black Pepper (the canned “black dust” kind)
• 1 Tsp of Table Salt

Directions: Chicken Preparation

Dice all the chicken into bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl with two cracked eggs, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Combine all ingredients together with your hand. This is the best way to incorporate all of the corn starch so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the bowl.

Directions: Frying the chicken

Get a pot and add vegetable or peanut oil until the oil is about 2” deep.  Enough so your chicken pieces will be covered with hot oil when you drop them in.

Heat oil to 375 degrees.  This is very important or your chicken will be soggy as it will not fry correctly.

Add battered chicken with tongs to hot oil in small batches at a time.  Fry untouched for 2 minutes.  Then stir the pieces around a bit in the oil and continue to fry for another 2-3 minutes, until the pieces are a light brown color. 

Remove pieces and let drain in a colander.  After which, place fried pieces on a paper towel covered tray to absorb any excess oil.

Continue until all chick is fried.  Let all of the chicken cool for about 10-15 minutes.

THEN

Heat the oil back up to 375 degrees and fry all of the chicken again, in small batches, for 2-3 minutes.  This makes the chicken a beautiful dark golden brown color and will make the have a crunchy texture. 

Ingredients: The Sauce

• 6Tb Soy Sauce
• 6Tb Water
• 1 1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar
• 1 1/4 Cup of White Vinegar
• 2 Cara Cara Oranges (these have a red/pink interior)

Directions: Making the Sauce

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Zest the entire rind of both oranges with a microplane and add to the sauce. Then juice both of the oranges and add to the sauce as well. Set aside.

Ingredients: Finishing Touch

• 2 Tb of Ginger Root Powder
• 2 Tb of Garlic Powder
• 2 Tb of Olive Oil
• 1 – 2 Cups of Chopped Green Onions
• 1 Tsp of red pepper flakes (adjust according to taste)
• 1/2 Cup of White Cooking Wine
• Sauce (from above)
• Corn starch slurry: 3 Tb of Corn Starch with 3 Tb of water. This is to thicken the sauce to your desired consistency. When it comes time to add, do a little at a time and continue to heat. It will thicken up fast so don’t dump the whole slurry in at once.

Directions: Bringing It All Together

Add the olive oil to a large pot and heat on medium high.  Dump in ginger and garlic powder, stir quickly for 10 seconds.  Add onions and red pepper flakes, cook while stirring for 30 seconds.  Add white wine, stir and cook for 10 seconds.  Pour in sauce and heat until boiling. 

Slowly add corn starch slurry, a little at a time and let the sauce thicken.  When the sauce is as thick as you’d like, remove from heat.

Add all of your chicken and broccoli and stir to coat.  Let sit for about 3-5 minutes for the sauce to heat the chicken.

Serve over white rice.