Orange Chicken

I saw a post on Facebook from Tasty on Orange Chicken. Tom's always talked about how much he loves it, so I decided to try it out.

Orange Chicken (inspired from Panda Express)

RECIPE:

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of white pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp of salt
• 2 chicken breasts, cubed
• 1/2 cup of corn starch
• 1/4 cup of flour
• vegetable oil for frying
• 1 Tbsp. of oil
• 2 tsp of garlic
• 1 Tbsp. of ginger
• 1/2 tsp of red chili flakes
• 1 Tbsp. of rice wine
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. of soy sauce
• 5 Tbsp. of vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. of water
• 3 1/2 Tbsp. of sugar
• 1 Tbsp. of orange zest
• 1 Tbsp. of corn starch slurry (1 Tbsp. of corn starch dissolved in 1 Tbsp. of water)
• Chopped scallions for garnish

1. Combine the egg, white pepper and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the cubed chicken breast, make sure it’s coated with the egg mixture.
2. In another bowl, combine corn starch and flour. Add the coated chicken to the flour mixture. Stir to coat.
3. Working in batches, fry the coated chicken until golden and done. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
4. In a large pan or work, add oil, garlic, ginger and red chili flakes. Stir fry until fragrant. Add rice wine and stir for a few seconds. Proceed to add all of the other sauce ingredients, including soy sauce, vinegar, water, sugar and orange zest.
5. Add the fried chicken. Stir to coat in sauce. Thicken the sauce with the corn starch slurry. Garnish with chopped scallions and serve with rice. Enjoy!

Besides the fact that it was too spicy, and there wasn't enough sauce, and it wasn't sweet enough, Tom thought it was successful. I was pleased with the flavor, too. We started to dissect the recipe for future reference, when we realized that I had only added 1 1/2 T sugar, that what Tom really liked was Panda Express' Honey Chicken, and that Panda Express doesn't even make Honey Chicken, the Honey Chicken is actually from Mandarin Express. I made extra sauce anyway - no red chili flakes, the correct quantity of sugar, 1 T of orange juice, and 1 T honey, and Tom thought it would be great for next time.