Thursday, January 1, 2009

Orange Chicken

For 2:
****Chicken***
2/3 pound chicken breast, 1" cubed
1/3 egg (•1 egg substitute = 2 Tbsp. water + 1 Tbsp. oil + 2 tsp. baking powder)
1/2 teaspoon salt
White pepper

***Breading***
1/6 cup cornstarch
1/3 tablespoon flour

***Heating Medium***
Oil (Canola oil)

***Flavor***
1/3 tablespoon minced ginger root
1/3 tablespoon minced garlic
1/3 tablespoon Mirin (rice wine)
1/3 teaspoon sesame oil

***Orange Chicken Sauce***
1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon water
5 tablespoon brown sugar
5 tablespoon white vinegar (substitute White Balsamic)

***Optional***
1/3 dash crushed hot red chilies (optional)
1/12 cup chopped green onions (optional)
1/12 cup OJ (optional)
Orange zest (optional)

***The Magic Instructions***
-Cut chicken into 1-inch cubes and place in a bowl.
-Stir in egg replacement, salt, white pepper and 1 tbsp oil and mix well.
-Stir in 1 teaspoon flour. Stir in more cornstarch.
-Add in chicken and stir to coat.
-Heat oil for deep-frying in wok or small saucepan to 375 degrees (or until it sizzles furiously once a drop of water is dropped in)
-Cook the chicken in small batches for 3-4 minutes, (turning once if the oil does not cover the chicken ie. if you don't want to use as much oil for deepfrying), until golden brown. Remove the chicken to a plate with towels as soon as it is browned, or it will be tough from overcooking.
-Heat a saucepan with a tablespoon of oil and brown the garlic and ginger till fragrant.
-Add Chilies and green onions optionally.
-Add a splash of mirin (rice wine) and stir for a few seconds.
-Add orange sauce as prepared above and bring to a boil.
-Add 1 tbsp flour or 1 tbsp cornstarch (stickier) to thicken the sauce. -Bring to a boil and reduce to 4 tbsp or so.
-Add in a touch of orange juice here if you have it.
-Stir in sesame oil.
-Add in orange zest if you have it.
-Add chicken and toss to coat.
-Sprinkle sesame seeds and garnish with green onions if you have them for some presentation flair.
-Admire and eat till you're full.
-DELISH!


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Original recipe: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recipetemplate.php?scale=6&mid=10271
Original notes:

You have to modify this recipe a little bit. As it reads for 6 servings you Must reduce the amount of ginger to 1/2 tsp.
Use 2 egg whites instead of 1 egg.
Next substitute brown sugar for the sugar and reduce to 4 Tbsp.
Next substitute orange juice for the water, 1 and 1/2 Tbsp.
I also substituted chili paste for the dash of dried chili pepper
Added a green pepper cut into chuncks.
These small modifications to the ingredients will make a huge difference!

For those that like a crispier chicken in the final dish, try reversing the proportions of corn starch and flour. Also, highly recommend doubling the amount of orange sauce (also the water/cornstarch and sesame oil at the end) and letting it reduce just a bit. Very good over fried rice.

It's only "basic sauce"(pre maid to keep recipie a secret), sugar (lots), water, and vinigar. Thats it! But man, it tasted great!!!

Definitely need to double up the sauce for a good flavor. Also, cut the chicken smaller as well. That way the flavor can coat/soak into the meat more.

Add the orange juice and green pepper. How about peanuts too?

-Rice wine for cooking is often called Mirin (or Aji Mirin). Do not use rice vinegar or sake. Mirin should be available in any large grocery store that has a half decent Asian food section.

-Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar to the 'orange' sauce. It helps balance the flavor of the ginger.

Cook the chicken for 2.5 minutes per side, until lightly browned, in small batches. Change out the oil in the wok after every batch or it'll turn the coating a dark color.

When simmering the sauce down in the wok, add the water and cornmeal before putting the chicken back in the wok. It only takes a minute or two to thicken it; this way it won't make the chicken too soggy. (Putting crispy chicken into a wok and pouring water over it would make it soggy... DUH!)

-uhh yes I too work for panda and that is the recipe they use for the sauce...They have now added a very small amount of orange extract. Its about 1/8 tsp for 7 quarts of sauce or something like that. The only difference is panda uses a basic sauce instead of soy sauce...the basic sauce is soy sauce with a few other things added.Not sure what else is added because we just get it in 5 gallon buckets.

-CRISPY CHICKEN: When making the sauce for the chicken, first bring the sauce up to a boil, and add about about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of flour. Mix and let the sauce thicken up. Then toss the chicken in. This mill make the sauce thicker, and the chicken more crispier because it does not make it as soggy.

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