Orange Chicken

The Noshery is an awesome food blog that I've followed for a while now. There's always great ideas on there.  Tonight I tried her recipe for "Better Than Takeout Orange Chicken," and it seriously was better than any Chinese take-out that I've had in a while.  It was to die for.

Once again, I apologize for the horrible picture. Seriously, next paycheck - my camera is going to the shop to get fixed... I can't stand this any longer.  The little point & shoot is great for every day use, but trying to take food pictures at night, not so much.

Oh... if there were only leftovers! We ate it all. 

The Noshery's Orange Chicken

• 2 lbs of boneless (and skinless) chicken breast, cut into cubes - about 1 or 1 1/2" cubes
• 1 ½ cups corn starch
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• Oil to fry 'em in. 

And for the sauce -

• 1 ½ cup water
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon minced ginger
• ½ teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water

Chicken: Set up three bowls. Bowl #1: Cornstarch with salt & pepper (mixed together of course), Bowl #2: Two beaten eggs, and Bowl #3: Panko Crumbs.  Take your cubes of chicken and dunk them in egg, then cornstarch, egg again and finally panko.  Set aside until you're ready to fry 'em up.

Frying: Fry up the chicken however you feel comfortable doing it. I personally  have a small fryer because I'm incompetent of frying properly in a pan.  All I do is splatter oil everywhere, so keeping it contained is the best solution (for me). Anyway, get your oil up to 375 degrees then toss in the chicken. I had to do mine in about three batches since my fryer is kinda small.  Leave them in there until they're a nice golden brown.  Once you think their done, be sure to cut one open and double check that it is cooked... we don't need any surprises there.

Sauce: In a medium sauce pan, mix together water, OJ, vinegar and soy sauce over medium heat until the brown sugar is completely dissolved then go ahead and toss in the ginger, garlic, green onion and red pepper flakes.  Bring to a boil for a minute or two. Mix together 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water until well dissolved, then slowly pour the cornstarch mix into your sauce.  Stir until it thickens up and looks like restaurant style orange sauce. 

Once you've got the chicken all fried up and the sauce ready to go, you can plate your chicken and drizzle it with sauce, or put it in a big bowl to make sure it gets really coated before serving it up.  Either way, it's going to be awesome.  I can't wait to make this stuff again. :)  Let me know if you try it out, and how it went for ya!