Orange Chicken

3 February 2023

Andrés

My Chinese Orange Chicken is sticky, sweet and tangy.

Chicken

Here´s how to do it

Here's what you'll need:

• Chicken thighs - which are a little more tender than breast meat, and stand up well to cooking over a high heat without drying out. They'll initially be coated in cornflour (cornstarch) to help the batter adhere to the chicken.
• The batter is made from a mixture of flour, egg, garlic salt, salt, pepper and water - which results in a lovely light batter.
• The sauce is made up from the zest of half an orange, juice of two oranges, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar (to counteract the acidity in the orange juice and zest), and rice vinegar - to add a little zing.
• We also need a flavourless oil with a high smoke point to fry the chicken in. I'm using vegetable oil.

The Chicken

1. We make the batter for the chicken first by mixing flour, egg, garlic salt, salt, pepper and water. Then in a separate bowl, we coat the chicken in cornflour, and add the chicken into the batter. Give it a stir to coat.
2. Then we fry the chicken in a wok in the hot oil. My pro tip is to fry the chicken in 2 or 3 batches - this ensures all of the chicken will be lovely and crispy.
3. Remove from the pan and carefully discard the oil.

The orange sauce

1. The orange sauce is made from a mixture of the orange juice and zest, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and rice vinegar.
2. This is bubbled up in the wok until slightly thickened.
3. The chicken is then added back in, and tossed in the sauce until fully coated.

Want to make it spicy?

Add a tablespoon of sriracha to the sauce and sprinkle with a few chilli flakes before serving.