Thursday, October 23, 2014

orange chicken.

well hello!  WHERE have I been?  BUSY, BUSY!  I know the last post was about food and I DO have some creative things to share but don't have a moment RIGHT now--SO I'll share what I'm going to attempt to make tonight!  I've got a boy that LOVES orange chicken so he will be VERY excited to try this recipe!  (I've got to go work at a booth at the high school carnival tonight selling chocolate and t-shirts--WISH me luck!)


Orange Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:
For the chicken-
2 large chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces.
3 eggs
2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp pepper
For the sauce-
1/2 cup of Mayonnaise
4-5 tbsp sweet chili sauce
Zest of half an orange
1/2 cup orange juice (I freshly squeezed it)
green onions/ chives for garnish
Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Cut 2 large chicken breasts into approx. 1 inch pieces or bite sized pieces.
- In a bowl, whisk together 3 eggs, a teaspoon of garlic salt and a touch of hot sauce (siracha/tobasco…whatever you have).
- Add the chicken pieces to the egg and mix them around so that all they’re all coated in egg.
- In another shallow bowl/dish, mix together a cup of flour, the remaining garlic salt and some black pepper together.
- In small batches of 3-4 pieces, coat the egg drenched chicken pieces in the seasoned flour and place them on a foil lined baking sheet. You could also deep fry the pieces if you want, but I choose to bake them (although it doesn’t look the same as when you fry the chicken, when coated in the sauce it taste’s just as good!)
- Bake the chicken at 400F for about 15 minutes and them stick them under the broiler for another 5 minutes to brown them slightly.
- While the chicken is cooking, you can mix together all the ingredients for the sauce. Half a cup of mayonnaise, 4-5 tbsp of Thai sweet chili sauce (I used my home-made recipe), the zest of half an orange and half a cup of orange juice.
- Whisk it all together (I know it looks gross at first) until there are no more lumps.
- Pour the sauce into a sauce pan and bring it to a gentle boil on medium-high heat.
- Once the chicken is slightly browned and cooked through, add it to the simmering sauce. Mix it well so that all the pieces are coated in the sweet sauce. The flour on the chicken will make the sauce thicken and it’ll also start looking glossier and clearer.
- Turn off the heat once the sauce reaches the desired thickness.
- Garnish with some fresh chopped green onion/scallions or garlic chives.
credit goes to: Picture the Recipe