Jeremy’s Orange Chicken

If you are asking yourself “Who is Jeremy and what is his Orange Chicken all about?”, the answer is simple.  Jeremy is my 13 year old grandson and his Orange chicken is all about deliciousness!  It just so happens that Jeremy LOVES any sort of Chinese food, but in particular he loves orange chicken. So the other evening he walked into our kitchen, saw some chicken I had bought, and asked me if he could use it to make some orange chicken for all of us for dinner.  I was surprised because I had no idea he had ever made orange chicken before and didn’t know he knew how.  Turns out he hadn’t ever made it and he didn’t know how, but he does know how to research something and he knows how to read.  And because he is often in the kitchen with me when I’m making family dinners, he knows his way around the kitchen and actually likes to experiment with foods.

He had looked up some recipes on Google and put together one that he wanted to try.  And to our family’s complete delight…..it was honestly delicious!  If Jeremy, who isn’t really a regular cook can make this, you can too 🙂

  Jeremy’s Orange Chicken

Chicken:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or 4 boneless, skinless thighs), cut into bite sized pieces
4 egg whites
1/2 cup corn starch
1 teaspoon salt
Peanut or grapeseed oil for frying chicken

Sauce:
1 tbsp ginger root, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1⁄2 tsp hot red chili pepper, crushed
1/4 cup rice wine
1⁄4 cup water
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1⁄2 tbsp water
5 tbsp brown sugar
1 orange, zest grated
1⁄4 cup green onion, chopped
2 tablespoons corn starch

Whisk egg whites until frothy.  Add in cornstarch and salt and mix well.  Stir in chicken and allow it to sit for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the sauce.

Add all the sauce ingredients together reserving half of the green onion to use for garnish.  Place sauce mixture in a sauce pan and heat until the sauce begins to thicken. This sauce is personal, so you can adjust it any way that tastes good to you. Taste and adjust seasoning adding more sesame oil, more chiles, more rice wine or soy sauce or whatever you want to have a bit more of in the sauce for it to taste the way you like it.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and add chicken frying it in 4-5 batches.  Add one piece of chicken at a time to keep it from clumping together.  Fry until lightly browned then remove from oil and drain on paper towels.  Once all the chicken has been cooked, return it again in batches to the hot oil to fully brown it.

This time remove it and once it is all browned place in serving dish and pour the sauce over top and toss to coat.

Sprinkle the remaining green onion over the top to garnish.  Serve immediately with rice.