Since moving to the burbs, we cannot find a decent Chinese food restaurant to save our life. I know, I know. A good Chinese restaurant isn’t truly life-saving, but it is necessary. No? I guess until we find it, I’ll have to keep making it. Or at least trying. This recipe is a keeper, promise. Not too sweet, a bit spicy, and simply fresh tasting. Much better than that over syrup flavored crap in most fast food joints. Give it a try and let me know what you think! I’m not a Chinese cuisine guru, but I do love to eat it and I do want my recipes to reflect easy, healthy, and tasty Asian cuisine. Seriously, I’m all ears. Please share your thoughts. And, if you would like to guest blog, let me know! I’m all ears.
Orange Peel Chicken:
ORANGE SAUCE:
Juice of 3 fresh, ripe oranges – $.72
1 Tbsp soy sauce – pantry/fridge
1/2 tsp sesame oil – pantry
1 tsp rice vinegar – pantry/fridge
2 Tbsp sugar – pantry
1 tsp corn starch – pantry
3 Tbsps water
1/2 tsp salt – pantry
Couple turns fresh grown pepper (white pepper is best, but black will work) – pantryFRYING BATTER:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup flour – pantry
1 Tbsp corn starch – pantry
1/2 tsp baking soda – pantry
1 egg – $.15
1 tsp canola oil – pantry
1/4 tsp salt – pantryOTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 to 2 lbs chicken breast or tenders, cut into bite sized pieces – $4.94
1 to 2 tsp chile pequin (dried chile pepper flakes) – pantry
1 zest of orange, minced – $.36
1 tsp garlic, minced – pantry
1 tsp ginger, minced – pantry
1 to 2 tsps oil – pantry
1/2 cup canola oil for frying chicken – pantry
2 green onions, finely chopped for garnish- $.25COST: $6.42
Mix orange sauce ingredients and set aside.
Mix batter till frothy. Toss chicken pieces into batter and make sure it’s all well coated. Heat 1/2 cup canola oil to medium high temp (in a deep, sauce pan). Once to temp, slowly add battered chicken pieces. You may need to do two bathes. If you’re pan is large, you will need additional oil, so just make sure you have enough to deep fry your chicken. Cook chicken pieces until golden brown & crispy, then remove and place on paper towels to soak up excess oil.
Once all chicken is cooked, heat your wok or non stick pan and add a couple of teaspoons oil when pan or wok is hot. Quickly fry your minced garlic and ginger, about 1 min or less. Next, add orange zest and chile flakes and stir. Add chicken pieces back to wok and toss a few times. Last, add orange sauce to wok and stir fry until sauce is nicely thickened and glossy colored.
Garnish with thinly dice green onion and serve hot, over steamed white calrose rice. Amazing!!!
Calrose (Sticky) Rice:
1 1/2 cups Calrose rice – $.50
Use Calrose, if you have it. Calrose is also called sticky rice. It is so good. Definitely our favorite. You could also use long grain or basmati. It’s a personal choice. The following instructions work for long grain and calrose. I’m not sure about others, so don’t quote me on those!
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PAN STEAMED RICE:
Pour rice into pot. Make sure your pot has a good lid. Add water to pot until it’s above the rice, precisely to your first finger tip knuckle line. Cover and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to slow simmer. Cook 20 mins and leave covered. DO NOT LIFT LID BEFORE 20 MINS!
GRAND TOTAL: $6.92
I’m going to make this, this coming Sunday but wanted to know if I can switch out the canola oil for vegetable? I also don’t have Wok, what do you recommended in replace for that? Thanks. 🙂
Oh, sure you can use Vegetable oil. I just always use Canola in everything. It’s a personal preference, but should hurt to change. Also, if you don’t have a wok, you can use a large non stick pan. Just make sure it’s non stick! Also, when you first fry the breaded/coated chicken, I do it in a deep sauce pan. This makes a 1/2 cup work. If your pan is too shallow or really large, you may need more oil. Just an FYI. The end of the recipe when you do the sauce, etc., this is when you really need a wok or NON stick. Cheers and enjoy your Orange Peel Chicken!
I don’t know what I did but my chicken didn’t look like your photo. 🙁 Were you suppose to mix the flour into the frying batter??
Yes. Tell me what you did and I’ll help you and correct the recipe to make sure it’s clear for everyone. I don’t want anyone to have problems. Thanks!
So I did the Orange Sauce first. Mixed all the ingredients together. For the batter I mixed all the ingredients. I’m not sure but I think I wasn’t suppose to add the flour to the wet ingredients? That’s probably why it doesn’t look like there is a coating and doesn’t look like your photograph.
My chicken was fried but it was white. Maybe not enough oil but there was no kind of “crisp” or “crunch” you would get in a dish like this (at least I think there was suppose to be some “crisp” and “crunch”. It wasn’t orange either.
Also my sauce didn’t stick to the chicken. I probably didn’t keep in the pan long enough. Plus my friend turned down the heat when he wasn’t suppose to which didn’t help I’m sure.
I will try again because I really want to enjoy this meal. I just don’t know where I screwed it up.
Ok, I think a few things happened. Yes, you do mix the flour and till it’s nice a frothy and the chicken is tossed and quickly tossed in to hot oil. At least 2 inches deep. You’re essentially deep frying. I’ll make that more clear in the recipe as well. I think you didn’t cook in hot enough oil. It will get nicely brown, but will not necessarily be like the fast food chain style big and crispy. Also, it’s important with the sauce that you cook down till it’s syrup in texture and toss with chicken. This is a bit delicate as you don’t want to burn, but you definitely have to cook enough to get the sugars in a syrup state. I think you’re right in that you didn’t cook long enough and your roomy turned down your heat. You do need that heat up a bit. Say medium hot. It goes from liquid to syrup fairly quick, so watch it closely. I know you’re using a non stick pan, which is wider at the base than a wok, you may need to make a double batch of sauce to truly coat all of your chicken since your sauce is more spread and less concentrated than it would be in a wok. OH, btw, if you have an IKEA by you, they have a nice little wok for really cheap. I love mine and it’s lasted a really long time. Took a while to get nicely seasoned, but pretty good for less than $10.
I hope this all helps. You did all the right things, I just think you need a bit hotter oil and to cook the sauce longer. Do try again. You will be happy when you get it down. It’s really tasty and a very beautiful dish