Orange Chicken

Orange chicken cooking up before it goes to the party

I wanted Asian food in a bad way the other day. I didn’t really feel up to wasting $30 on grease and questionable meat in an MSG laden sauce. I have never attempted such a specific Asian dish. When I make stir-fry I usually head to Whole (paycheck) Foods and look around at the veggies and go from there. 

I searched the internet and my library of cookbooks for some inspiration. I knew I wanted three things: chicken, orange and heat. I read about ten recipes and not ONE included a vegetable save garlic and green onions. I did notice a pattern in the ingredients and that was dry sherry and orange juice. The fennel, I believe, enhanced those flavors. I threw in broccoli because I frankly needed something green that wouldn’t send me to the county jail.

The whole thing is quite messy although not as time consuming as most Asian recipes. Here is what you need:

Serves Four Adults Well

12 chicken cutlets cut into bite sized-cubes
1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice divided (you don’t HAVE to use fresh)
Bunch of scallions sliced
1-4 Dried chili peppers
Bulb of fennel (cored and thinly sliced)
2 Jalepeno peppers
1 TBS Dried orange peel (TrueOrange is EXCELLENT near the Sweet N Low at the grocery)
1/4 C Dry Sherry Wine
2 TBS Grand Marnier
1/2 Cup Cornstarch (for dusting)
2 TBS Sesame oil
1/4 Cup Dark Soy Sauce
1-2 Cloves garlic grated
1 Inch of fresh ginger root grated
1 Head of broccoli cut into bite sized pieces
3 TBS Sarachi Sauce (Rooster Sauce)
Sesame seeds I like a lot so feel free to go nuts here
Oil for frying
Wok

Process:

Marinate the chicken in orange juice, sherry and garlic for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is marinating cut up the veggies and mix up your sauce. Heat the oil in the wok. Start stir-frying the aromatics; ginger, garlic, fennel and scallions for about 3-4 minutes until they begin to get tender. Add the broccoli and stir-fry until bright green. Put the veggies in a big bowl and cover with plastic. This will continue to cook the broccoli while you cook the chicken.

Start in batches by taking 1/3 of the chicken and dusting it in cornstarch. Shake it off as much as possible or you will get little burned bits in your wok. You can move the chicken up the side when it gets cooked and continue to add the rest of the chicken until it is all cooked.

Add the veggies back to the wok with the chicken. Pour the sauce over and stir. Allow to simmer in the sauce for about four minutes until thick. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Serve over rice!