Asian Orange Chicken Recipe

I love Asian food! I have never made it from scratch, usually I get a sauce packet and add that to chicken and veggies. Today I decided to be ambitious. I found this recipe at allrecipes.com. I did make some of my own changes, but not to many.

Ingredients:

Chicken:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-1/2" cubes

1 1/2 c all purpose flour

1 egg (beaten)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Oil for frying

Orange Sauce:

1 1/2 c water

2 tbsp orange juice (about 1/2 an orange), I had fresh oranges so I used those

1/4 c lemon juice (about 1 lemon), also fresh

1/3 c rice vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp orange zest (about 1 1/2 oranges)

1 c packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp minced ginger root

1/2 tsp minced garlic (two cloves)

2 tbsp green onion (chopped)

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

3 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 c water

Instructions:

1. Dip chicken chunks in egg and then toss in the flour mixture. I don't have a deep fryer so I used my wok with some canola oil in single layer batches. Do not over crowd the wok while frying. If you have a fryer: fry the chicken at 375°. I used a skimmer to remove the chicken from the oil. Placed it on a some paper towel on a plate. I preheated my oven to 170° (the fully cooked temperature for chicken needs to be 165° internally). I placed the chicken on a cookie sheet and kept in the oven to keep warm while I made the sauce.

2. In a large saucepan, or wok rinsed after frying chicken, combine 1 1/2 c water, lemon juice, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic and onion. Bring to a boil.

3. Combine 3 tbsp cornstarch and 1/4 c water in a small bowl or cup, mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until sauce thickens. I then took a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies, steamed them in the microwave, added the chicken and veggies into the sauce. Served over brown rice.

This was very good. Took me about 45 minutes from start to finish. Very inexpensive!! Very simple to make! Next time I think I will add the veggies to the orange sauce and then spoon that over the chicken. I used extra crushed red pepper flakes because I wanted a little more heat. Enjoy!