Orange Sesame Chicken

Orange Chicken

My husband has been wanting Asian food for weeks now, and I haven't had the chance to make it for him.  One of the reasons why is our deep fryer, which is used to fry the chicken, is neatly put away.   Since I used it yesterday, I thought it would be a great idea to keep it out and use it again this afternoon to make Orange Chicken.  Except I forgot to share my wonderful idea.  My husband cleaned it until it looked brand new again and then put it away.  Now I need to ask him to get it back out for me.  This seems to happen all the time, and he never complains.  He is so good natured about things like that - this is one of the reasons I have still huge crush on him.  Click below to read more.


My recipe for Orange Chicken was adapted from the Pioneer Woman's Orange Chicken.  Her photography is so enticing I couldn't wait to get started.  After reading her recipe, however, I did make a number of changes to better suit our tastes.

Chicken breast and thigh meat

Deboned chicken thighs are excellent in dishes like this and General Tso's.  They're moist and full of flavor.   As a general rule, however, I prefer boneless skinless chicken breasts.  So I compromised and used both.  Doing so has the added bonus of bringing the cost per person down greatly as chicken breasts are a lot more expensive than thighs.

I cut them into 1" chunks and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and some McCormick Chinese Five Spice.  If you haven't tried this yet, do yourself a favor and pick some up.  It brings a certain warmth and aroma to this dish that helps it to achieve authenticity without being too bossy, if you know what I mean.

The sauce ingredients

After seasoning the chicken, I covered it with plastic wrap and refrigerated it until I was ready for it.  In the meantime, I got the sauce started.

Start by adding orange juice to a large non-stick skillet, followed by the remaining ingredients.  Allow it to boil and bubble away for about 5 minutes, turn heat to low, then thicken it a bit with some cornstarch mixed with an additional amount of orange juice.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Starting the orange sauce

Crack 4 large eggs into a large glass bowl.  Whisk well.  Season with a small amount of Chinese Five Spice, salt and pepper.   Whisk in corn starch, making sure it's well mixed.  Add chicken to the bowl and make sure to coat all pieces.

In the meantime, preheat your fryer to 350F.  Working in small batches, fry the chicken for about 4-5 minutes, and drain onto paper towels.  Because this is a wet batter,  place your basket

into the hot oil first.  If you don't do this, the chicken will stick to the bottom of the basked and you won't be able to get it out.

Using tongs, transfer chicken to the submerged basket while being very careful not to drop the pieces of chicken into the hot oil bath.  Trust me, this is not something you want to do.  I place the pieces of chicken in the basket individually so that they don't stick together during cooking.

After all the chicken has been fried at 350F, turn the heat up to 375F on the fryer.  Without overloading your fry basket, fry for an additional 2 minutes.  This will make the coating crispier.  Because they've already been through the fryer once at 350F, there is no need to submerge the basket into the oil first.  They won't stick to the basket now.

Turn the sauce back on medium-low.  If it has thickened too much, add a bit more orange juice until it is the desired consistency.  When it's heated, you're ready to add the chicken.  Of course, this depends on the crowd.   My kids don't want the sauce actually on the chicken.   For some reason, this would cause the world to stop spinning.  In that case, I simply serve it on the side.

I love to serve this on a bed of cabbage, topped with green onions and roasted sesame seeds, and some orange slices on the side.  Oh - and of course, it's best with a side of fried rice.

Orange Sesame Chicken

Ingredients
- For the chicken - 
Boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks, 1.5 pounds
Boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into chunks, 1 pound
Chinese Five Spice, 1/8 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon
Salt and Pepper
4 large eggs
Corn starch, 3/4 cup
Scallions, 1/2 cup finely sliced

- For the Sauce -
Orange juice, 1 cup + 1/4 cup additional
Tamari Sauce, 3 tablespoons
Rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons
Brown sugar, half cup
Roasted sesame oil, 1/4 teaspoon
Crushed red pepper flakes, a dash
Chinese Five Spice - 1/8 teaspoon
Garlic, 2 cloves, grated
Ginger, 1 teaspoon, grated
Orange Zest, 1/2teaspoon, grated
Corn starch, 2 teaspoons


Directions
- For the Chicken - 
1.  Cut chicken into chunks and season with salt, pepper, and first portion of Chinese Five Spice.
2.  Crack 4 large eggs into a large bowl and whisk well.  Add Cornstarch and remaining portion of Chinese Five Spice making sure to whisk well and fully incorporate into the egg.
3.  Add Chicken to egg mixture making sure to coat all pieces of the chicken well.
4.  Working in small batches, add chicken to 350F fryer and allow to cook for 4-5 minutes.  Drain well.
5.   Fry them once again for 2 minutes at 375F.  Drain well.

- For the Sauce - 
1.  Starting with orange juice, add all ingredients (except additional orange juice and corn starch) to a large non-stick skillet and allow it to boil for 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium.
2.  Whisk together corn starch and reserved orange juice.  When smooth, add to skillet, whisking constantly until you reach desired consistency (It should readily coat the back of a spoon).

- Assembly - 
 Add fried chicken pieces to the skillet of sauce, tossing to coat chicken well.  Remove from skillet and onto a bed of cabbage.  Top with roasted sesame seeds and green scallions.