Orange Chicken in a sauce (Chinese New Year recipe)

Orange chicken comes from Hunan Province, China and is a popular Chinese-American dish. Orange chicken is also a perfect choice as a Chinese New Year recipe. I am a huge fan of Sheldon from Big Bang theory and he is always talking about tangerine chicken, which made me very curious about that chinese recipe. Interestingly enough, my mom had sent me the recipe a long time back, but she called it honey chili chicken, and while going through the recipe, I realised it was almost the same as orange chicken recipe (or tangerine chicken). The only difference was that while most recipes only use sugar, she used a combination of honey and brown sugar. Using honey and brown sugar gives the dish an exceptionally flavourful taste, hence try not to use white sugar for this recipe. It was my first time doing that orange chicken recipe and it was fantastic! The taste of the orange in the sauce was just wonderful!
Tip: You do not want a thick coating of batter for frying the chicken. A little flour, cornstarch and 1 egg will suffice. I made the mistake many times before of using thick batter, as many recipes say, and it turns out to be a disaster. The flour got “fried” and the chicken not well cooked. For once, I listened to my mom’s advice and the fried chicken pieces turned out golden-brown!

(Check out other Chinese New Year recipes:Mauritian-Chinese fried noodles , Sweet and Sour Pork Meatballs, Spring Rolls, Chinese Tea Eggs, Chinese dumplings with chicken, Vegetarian potstickers.

(Complete list of Chinese New Year Recipes)

Orange chicken in a sauce

Ingredients:
3 medium chicken breasts, cut into bite-size cubes
2-3 dried red chillies
1 tbsp grated orange zest (obtained from the oranges used for orange juice)
1 inch ginger, grated
cornstarch
1/2 tbsp flour
1 egg
salt
1 stalk of shallots, chopped

ORANGE SAUCE(the amount below can be modified to suit your taste, eg, if you want a sweeter taste):
orange juice from 3 medium oranges
lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
4 tbsp water

Steps:
1. Mix the chicken with salt, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, flour, salt and egg. Mix all well, coating the chicken pieces well with the batter.
2. Heat oil in a deep-frying pan. When oil is hot, carefully drop the coated chicken pieces to fry. Use a pair of chopsticks to separate the pieces. Fry until
golden-brown. Drain on kitchen paper and keep.
3. Heat oil in pan. Break the dried chillies into two and add. Add grated ginger and fry until fragrant.
4. Add the orange zest and stir for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the orange sauce and let boil for 3-4 minutes. You can get the wonderful smell of the oranges by then. Check for salt or sugar.
6. Add constarch mixture(1 tbsp cornstarch+3 tbsp water) to the sauce. Mix to thicken the sauce.
7. Add the fried chicken pieces and stir to coat them with the sauce. Continue to simmer until the sauce is thick to your desired taste.
8. Serve with chopped shallots on top. Enjoy the delicious flavour of the orange sauce coating the fried chicken!