Spicy Orange Chicken

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