Chinese cooking: Orange chicken with vegetable
In the past, when in-law parents visited us, we visited Colonial Williamsburg in VA. Colonial Williamsburg is historic area and it has historic buildings, carriages passing by, you get to see people in clothes from 18th century such as Thomas Jefferson, and you get to see reenactment.. kind of like universal studio with history theme. If you have kids or if you are interested in history, you may enjoy visiting Colonial Williamsburg.
One of the restaurant we had dinner in Colonial Williamsburg was wooden building with candle lights, and it was very dark inside, but we saw reenactors playing music and other tourists dining in dim light. There, I had Duck Confit with Orange sauce. It is basically braised Duck leg with orange sauce over it. It was very very good. Duck confit is French dish.
Similar to that Duck confit with Orange sauce dish, Asia has poultry dish with orange sauce: Orange Chicken. You maybe familiar with the dish. If you order at restaurant, Orange chicken is just bite sized chicken pieces that are deep fried and covered with orange flavored sauce, no vegetable. It is tasty, but it is on greasy side. If wok is used, I would imagine chef may use more than 1 tbs -2 tbs of oil. When I cook, usually dish is made with 1 tbs or 2 tbs of oil and not more, except occasional deep fried dishes.
I like both orange sauce dishes and I wanted to make them at home, but wanted it to be more healthier, with vegetable in it. This is my version of orange chicken. So, how do you make Orange chicken with vegetable?Here is how.
Orange chicken with vegetable
** Since I wanted to show the ingredients more, the picture show less sauce in it
First, classic orange chicken starts from deep frying bite size pieces of chicken. However, I will start with different method.
1. Pound one chicken breast by covering the breast with saran, and use meat mallet's smooth surface side to pound
2. When chicken breast is pounded well, sprinkle Morton's brand "Natures season" (It is my favorite brand and it is with blue cap) over the chicken breast, cut them into bite size pieces.
3. Put them into big bowl and pour about 1/2 C or so of unbleached all purpose flour, and dust the chicken breast pieces with flour well.
4. Pour 1 tbs or so of Extra Virgin Olive Oil into skillet, and come it up to hot temperature.
** When using oil, using oil bottle helps you better control oil amount to pour onto skillet.
I keep mine with Extra virgin olive oil in it. I do not fill it to top. Just to about half the bottle or less.
5. Put 1 clove of grated garlic, thumb nail size of ginger (small bits of ginger goes long way) grated, and zest from 1 orange and thinly sliced orange with orange rinds ( I used about half orange) to skillet and add flour coated chicken breast bits and cook til one side of chicken breast pieces gets a bit of color
6. Turn the chicken breast bits to other side, and add 1/4C of Orange liqueur and let it evaporate.
** Pounding chicken breast and cook in bit of alcohol makes chicken very tender, and make it very flavorful at the same time.
7. Add vegetable of your choice. I had orange pepper,green pepper, celery and onion and I added them to the dish.
8.When vegetable is getting cooked, add 8 fl oz of Orange juice (I used small sized tropicana, no pulp, orange juice 8 fl oz)
6. Add 1/4C of chicken broth, add 1/4C white sugar, 1/2 tbs soy sauce, and cook through
7. When it is about done, add 1/4C of Orange liqueur and cook a couple of minutes more and drizzle dash of sesame oil and stir and serve. You can serve over rice like I did, you can serve as one side dish.. It is very fragrant dish.
** If you did not have orange liqueur, since orange liqueur is made with brandy, you could use brandy or cognac instead.
** If you had a couple of orange liqueur bottles in your cabinet, taste it and use the one with most orange flavor.
This amount of ingredients in the recipe will be enough about 3 adult servings or so if it were cooked as main dish. Also, you can switch to different protein such as beef. Or you can simply make just sauce and pour it over fish that is cooked on skillet.
Bon appetit!
One of the restaurant we had dinner in Colonial Williamsburg was wooden building with candle lights, and it was very dark inside, but we saw reenactors playing music and other tourists dining in dim light. There, I had Duck Confit with Orange sauce. It is basically braised Duck leg with orange sauce over it. It was very very good. Duck confit is French dish.
Similar to that Duck confit with Orange sauce dish, Asia has poultry dish with orange sauce: Orange Chicken. You maybe familiar with the dish. If you order at restaurant, Orange chicken is just bite sized chicken pieces that are deep fried and covered with orange flavored sauce, no vegetable. It is tasty, but it is on greasy side. If wok is used, I would imagine chef may use more than 1 tbs -2 tbs of oil. When I cook, usually dish is made with 1 tbs or 2 tbs of oil and not more, except occasional deep fried dishes.
I like both orange sauce dishes and I wanted to make them at home, but wanted it to be more healthier, with vegetable in it. This is my version of orange chicken. So, how do you make Orange chicken with vegetable?Here is how.
Orange chicken with vegetable
** Since I wanted to show the ingredients more, the picture show less sauce in it
First, classic orange chicken starts from deep frying bite size pieces of chicken. However, I will start with different method.
1. Pound one chicken breast by covering the breast with saran, and use meat mallet's smooth surface side to pound
2. When chicken breast is pounded well, sprinkle Morton's brand "Natures season" (It is my favorite brand and it is with blue cap) over the chicken breast, cut them into bite size pieces.
3. Put them into big bowl and pour about 1/2 C or so of unbleached all purpose flour, and dust the chicken breast pieces with flour well.
4. Pour 1 tbs or so of Extra Virgin Olive Oil into skillet, and come it up to hot temperature.
** When using oil, using oil bottle helps you better control oil amount to pour onto skillet.
I keep mine with Extra virgin olive oil in it. I do not fill it to top. Just to about half the bottle or less.
5. Put 1 clove of grated garlic, thumb nail size of ginger (small bits of ginger goes long way) grated, and zest from 1 orange and thinly sliced orange with orange rinds ( I used about half orange) to skillet and add flour coated chicken breast bits and cook til one side of chicken breast pieces gets a bit of color
6. Turn the chicken breast bits to other side, and add 1/4C of Orange liqueur and let it evaporate.
** Pounding chicken breast and cook in bit of alcohol makes chicken very tender, and make it very flavorful at the same time.
7. Add vegetable of your choice. I had orange pepper,green pepper, celery and onion and I added them to the dish.
8.When vegetable is getting cooked, add 8 fl oz of Orange juice (I used small sized tropicana, no pulp, orange juice 8 fl oz)
6. Add 1/4C of chicken broth, add 1/4C white sugar, 1/2 tbs soy sauce, and cook through
7. When it is about done, add 1/4C of Orange liqueur and cook a couple of minutes more and drizzle dash of sesame oil and stir and serve. You can serve over rice like I did, you can serve as one side dish.. It is very fragrant dish.
** If you did not have orange liqueur, since orange liqueur is made with brandy, you could use brandy or cognac instead.
** If you had a couple of orange liqueur bottles in your cabinet, taste it and use the one with most orange flavor.
This amount of ingredients in the recipe will be enough about 3 adult servings or so if it were cooked as main dish. Also, you can switch to different protein such as beef. Or you can simply make just sauce and pour it over fish that is cooked on skillet.
Bon appetit!
You don't know how Happy you have made me!!! Orange Chicken is TOTALLY my very FAVORITE food and I've never known how to make it! I'm sure that the sauce is the biggest part of it, too! Adding the vegetables would really add a lot MORE extra flavor, too. I'm just so excited! I need to see if I can find some Orange liqueur somewhere. I rarely use alcoholic beverages except every once in a while to cook, so don't usually have them on hand.
Again... THANK YOU!!!
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I am glad to know you have found something you get really excited about
Yes, I think sauce is biggest part of many dishes. My version of Orange chicken is a little different from authentic ones because I am combining flavor I like from Duck confit with Orange sauce I have eaten at Colonial Williamsburg and Orange chicken I like from Chinese restaurant.
Orange liqueur has various size from small bottles to bigger bottles at liqueur store. So,if you think you would not use it much at cooking/baking, then get the smallest size at the store. I usually get liqueur at ABC store. If you could find ABC store near your area, you probably can find the orange liqueur. If you could not find orange liqueur, just simply substitute it with Cognac (brandy).
I hope you and your family will enjoy Orange chicken with vegetable
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