Orange Chicken - quick, easy and baked, not fried.
Orange Chicken - quick, easy and baked, not fried; a very flavourful version of this Chinese style take out dish that uses economical frozen orange juice concentrate as the base of the tangy sauce.
1 1/4cupsfrozen orange juice concentrateApproximately. I used a 295 ml container
1tbspfreshly grated ginger root
1/2cupwater
1/3cuphoney
1/4cuprice wine vinegar
1tspChinese five spice powder
2tspcrushed chili pasteor chili flakes to taste
2tbsplight soy sauce
2tsptoasted sesame oil
2tbspcorn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
Instructions
Heat a cookie sheet in the oven at 425 degrees F. This speeds up the cooking time later.
Cut the chicken into about 2-bite pieces and season them lightly with salt and pepper
Sift together the flour, salt, pepper, powdered ginger and five spice powder.
Whisk together the egg and water to make an egg wash.
Dredge the chicken pieces into the flour dredge to coat them, then dip the pieces into the egg wash and back into the flour and spice dredge again.
Working quickly, retrieve the cookie sheet from the oven and lightly brush the entire bottom with the oil. Add the coated chicken pieces to the pan but don't crowd them together. They should not be touching. Lightly drizzle a little more oil over the chicken pieces. A spray bottle works well for this too.
Pop the chicken into the oven for 8 minutes. Take the pan out and turn the chicken pieces over before putting them back into the oven for another 7-8 minutes. Cut one open to see that they are fully cooked. This should be plenty of time at that temperature.
Toss the cooked chicken pieces wight he sauce and serve over steamed rice or Chinese noodles.
Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onions if you like.
Add all of the remaining ingredients to the pot, except the cornstarch and water.
Bring the sauce to a slow simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir the cornstarch into the water and immediately add it to the sauce stirring constantly. Simmer for only another minute, stirring constantly before serving.
Recipe Notes
We most often serve steamed vegetables on the side with this dish but if you like, you can also toss in red peppers, cooked green beans or snow peas, water chestnuts, or steamed broccoli with the chicken when adding the sauce. Use any combination of vegetables you like to make this a complete meal.