Lately
I’ve been craving some chicken with an Asian flair to it, and my
dear assistant cook Miss Megan has also been asking for something
like that too. I thought Orange Chicken would fit the bill. There are
many recipes for Orange Chicken out there, but since I didn’t feel
like looking any up, I just let it roll around in my head a little
while and then went with it. This is what I came up with.
Just
so you know, it is VERY spicy with 2 tsp red pepper flakes, so it may
be a little too hot for some children. You might want to use just 1
tsp, and then add a little to your own portion so the kids’ tongues
don’t burst into flames. Or
God forbid one of them burps---someone may have their eyebrows
singed! ;-)
So,
let’s get cooking!
Peel
and mince the ginger root. Don’t you just love working with fresh
ginger?? It’s so juicy and fragrant!
Peel and mince the garlic, and
slice the red pepper into 1 inch lengths.
And peel
and dice the carrots small. My lovely assistant cook Miss Megan did
the “cawwots,” as
she says.
Next,
cube the boneless skinless chicken breast into chunks about ¾ inch
size.
In a gallon size bag, with the cornstarch in it, coat the
chicken chunks. Shake off the excess cornstarch in a sieve and return
the cornstarch to the bag for the next handful of chicken chunks.
In
a large skillet, sauté the coated chicken in the oil, using a
Tablespoon at a time. You can do it in batches, adding more oil when
needed. Cook until all sides of the chicken are sautéed. They’ll
finish cooking in the next steps.
Add
the orange juice concentrate, water, rice vinegar, brown sugar,
garlic, and ginger. Mix well and simmer for about 6-8 minutes,
stirring several times.
Add the dices carrots and simmer about 4
minutes, covered. You can really see how it thickens now.
Add the red
bell peppers and broccoli florets. Cook for about 4-5 minutes more,
covered.
Serve
over rice if you’d like. It can be eaten by itself, of course, but
it does go very nicely with rice. This is an excellent dish to make
when you have leftover rice from another meal.
Enjoy!
~TMMF
Spicy Orange Chicken
1 ½ lb chicken breast
¾ c cornstarch
¼ c oil
1 red bell pepper
24 oz broccoli florets
2-3 cloves garlic
1 ½ inch ginger root
1 c carrot, diced small
½ can frozen orange juice concentrate
½ c water
¾ c rice vinegar
¾ c brown sugar
2 tsp red pepper flakes