A fantastic dish that can be served as a main course or as a snack. You will not regret doing this dish. Super popular at home.
The first time I ate orange chicken was at Panda Express in the US in the mid-’80s. Really fell in love. Nowadays, there are places like ChopChop in Sweden (the first came to Sweden in 2011), where you can eat orange chicken, but earlier I had to fix it myself. Got a recipe from Panda Express that I have modified a bit, and the result was absolutely fantastic.
Essential to keep in mind is to use boneless chicken thigh fillet; regular breast fillet gets too dry!
| Ingredients for 4 servings | The sauce |
| 500 grams of boneless chicken thigh fillets | 1 teaspoon vegetable oil |
| Batter: | 1/4 teaspoon pepper flakes |
| 185 grams of wheat flour | 0.5 teaspoon grated or chopped ginger |
| 56 grams of cornstarch | 1 tablespoon crushed garlic (optional) |
| 0.5 teaspoon white pepper | 65 grams of powdered sugar |
| 0.5 tbsp salt | 60 grams of brown sugar |
| 1 teaspoon vegetable oil | 50 grams of squeezed orange juice |
| 1 egg | 52 grams of vinegar |
| 160 grams of frameless or ordinary water | 2 tablespoons soy sauce (Kikkoman) |
| 1 teaspoon sesame oil | |
| The Roux | |
| 2 tTbsp corn starch | |
| 2 Tbsp water |
Method:
- Wash, clean, and cut the chicken thigh fillets into small pieces, 3 cm x 1.5 cm as the main course, shorter if you will have it as a snack. Store it in the fridge while you measure everything for the batter.
- In a large bowl, mix in wheat flour, pepper, salt, eggs, olive oil, and frameless. Whisk it well. The batter must not be too thick nor too thin; check the video to see the consistency.
- Take out the chicken pieces from the fridge and put them in the batter, mixing so that the chicken pieces are covered by the batter. Cover and store in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
- Heat the oil to (200° Celsius) or (392° Fahrenheit) and fry the chicken pieces for 6 minutes. Put them aside when done. And set aside. I then double fry the chicken by putting everything back n the pan with the oil again for about 2 minutes or until they get a nice golden color; this way, the chicken pieces stay crispy longer. Keep these warm in (150° Celsius) or (302 Fahrenheit) oven heat while you make the sauce.
- Heat a pan and pour in the oil. Add the ginger and let it all get a little warm.
- Add the pepper flakes and stir.
- Add the crushed garlic and mix well, do not fry it for too long! Max one minute.
- Add both sugars and vinegar, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the soy and continue mixing.
- Add a teaspoon of dried and ground orange peel or grated peel of fresh orange.
- Pour in orange juice and continue to stir.
- Whisk 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water, pour it into the pan a little at a time. Now you have to be careful so that the sauce does not become too thick.
- Top with sesame oil and remove the pan from the heat.
- Take out the chicken from the oven, pour over the sauce; mix until it covers all the chicken pieces.
Serve with excellent basmati rice made in the Persian way. Serve soy on the side.
Tips: You can have some orange zest in the batter as well!
Enjoy!
