Monday, July 29, 2013

Recipe: Orange Roasted Chicken

By Owen Krein


My father-in-law is back in Taiwan once more for two weeks right after a quick trip to China. In spite of him not getting at residence that a lot these past couple of days, I did handle to acquire within a couple of lessons. For those of you who didn't read the previous messages related to this subject, my father-in-law is a chef with about 50 years of experience. I can not aid but be awestruck as I watch him perform in our kitchen at lightening speed in spite of his sophisticated age.

Yesterday I made a chicken dish that is somewhat equivalent to orange chicken (call it that for lack of a better name). He did not supervise me the entire time, but rather gave me a list of components with approximate measurements.

For starters, I cut up about three cups of chicken breast meat and set it aside. Next, I created the following sauce which is surprisingly basic, but delicious:

1 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup white vinegar 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (approximation) Approximately 1/4 cup water or low-sodium chicken broth (to dilute soy sauce - otherwise as well salty; I used water) two or three garlic cloves (crushed) 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Note: Initially I was against employing so much sugar and vinegar, but my father-in-law insisted on employing huge amounts of near equal portions of each. Who's to argue with 50 years of expertise?

About 2 hours before making this dish, I poured a bit on the sauce mixture in together with the breast nuggets so meat would soak up flavor. To complete otherwise wouldn't enable the sauce to deeply penetrate the meat. Yesterday, following frying my very first batch of chicken, I tasted a piece and it was scrumptious without the sauce! Soon after pouring adequate of sauce to cover chicken pieces, I mixed in cornstarch (1/4 cup!) and let mixture sit in refrigerator.

Although mixture sat in refrigerator, I reduce up some red and green bell peppers and green onion (total of about 1 cup). Later, I beat a few egg whites till frothy and set aside. After removing chicken from refrigerator, I poured off sauce mixture and dipped chicken pieces in egg white (my father-in-law claims that this assists to tenderize chicken pieces - Essential.

Subsequent, I mixed in a minimum of 1/2 cup cornstarch (making use of massive quantity - Crucial - and mixed with hands till mixture became quite gooey. Following putting meat back in refrigerator, I heated bit of oil in wok, added 1 clove of minced garlic and sauted bell peppers for about three minutes just before adding green onions. I sauted for another 1 - 2 minutes prior to removing from fire and adding a lot more oil to fry chicken.

Following oil was hot (about 360 degrees), I placed chicken pieces in oil, looking to separate them as ideal as you can. Soon after frying chicken (about 1-1/2 - 2 minutes per piece), I drained pieces on paper towel-lined plate.

Subsequent, I added sauce to wok and heated to get a minute or so just before adding about 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with equal amount of water. Following stirring, I added vegetables and brought mixture to boil. Afterwards, I decreased heat and simmered until mixture began to thicken, at which point I added chicken pieces and heated for about 1 minute.

Find out more about baked chicken recipes
This dish was served more than white rice and was delicious. The flavor was tangy and sweet, absolutely nothing like anything I've had before. This would also be fantastic with pork!

I made this dish with no my father-in-law's supervision because he had a bunch of errands to run. He stated I did a quite excellent job, but should have added a little oil to the egg white/cornstarch mixture prior to frying the chicken. This would have created the nuggets crispier. Oh nicely, I guess encounter would be the best teacher.

P.S. I also learned a vegetable and sauce trick which I'll post inside the close to future. Tomorrow I'll possibly make a crispy beef dish with my father-in-law. This time, even so, he promised to walk me by way of the actions instead of tell me what I need to do and then disappear . I feel I have great cooking instincts, but they can only carry me so far--especially with regards to producing Chinese food (lol)!

Servings: four




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