Spicy Chinese Chicken & Orange Peel Chicken

Here it is. The (very) long awaited Spicy Chinese Chicken and Orange Peel Chicken recipes and how-to's!

Please forgive the lack of pictures. I learned the hard way that it is not ideal to take blog pictures at the same time you are cooking for company (at least not for me). I was busy trying to get everything else ready, that I kept forgetting about my friend, Camera.

So here are all of the culprits. Ninety-five percent of them are pantry staples. Another three percent are the kind that you can buy then have forever. Case in point: I've made these recipes more times than I can count, and just had to buy my second bottle of rice vinegar.

Oh, and I didn't take a picture of the chicken. I buy the Tyson bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts at Sam's (unless Dillon's has the fresh stuff on sale) and probably go through it in two weeks flat. It's so versatile and easy! Remember the frozen marinated chicken?

I love chicken. That's all there is to it.

Heat oil in a saucepan. Chop the onions and garlic. Oh garlic, my trusty, never-fail friend. Add onions and garlic to oil and saute for just a bit. Don't let the garlic burn. I don't think I've ever burned garlic, but I can't imagine it would smell wonderful.

Why my burner is blue, I have no clue. I'm guessing Camera thought it was helping out with "red eye reduction"? Oh well, it's a pretty picture at the least.

Next add the pineapple juice, chili sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce.

Whisk together a few tablespoons of corn starch and 3 or 4 tablespoons of water to make a paste. Add this to the sauce. Corn starch acts as a thickening agent. And the thicker the sauce, the more it sticks to the chicken. Mmm.

Just look at that sauce thickening away.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer. The recipe says 3-5 minutes. But it simmers for as long as I need it to while I'm doing other things, like getting the chicken cooked. Don't be afraid you'll mess it up. Just keep the heat low to med-low and give it a friendly stir every once in a while. It won't hate you.

I have NO pictures of me cooking the chicken, but here's the low-down:
For four people (two of them, hungry men), I used 5... or 6... chicken breasts (that's what I get for waiting two weeks to blog about this). Chop in bite size pieces and toss them in a Ziploc bag with about 1/4 cup of corn starch. For this much chicken, I used two Ziploc bags so there would be plenty of room for them to do their dance while I tossed. The chicken dance. Ah. Ha. Ha.

Heat a wok or pan with enough canola (or vegetable) oil to cover about 1/3 to 1/2 of the chicken piece. You don't want your chicken swimming in oil, but if you don't have enough, the oil will spit angrily at you.*

When chicken is cooked, drain on a paper plate covered with a few paper towels. I'm all for easy clean up. When chicken has drained, add to the sauce, and voi-la!

This is a picture of both kinds of chicken. I usually serve with brown rice (a favorite at our house), but jasmine rice is what I had, so it worked. I don't even bother to make any other side dishes. When it comes to this chicken, meat and rice is all we care about :)

Now, the Spicy Chicken is my husband's favorite (and the kind I make most of the time), but Orange Peel Chicken is MY favorite. It's pretty much the same concept, so I'll just jot down the recipe for you down below... On a side note, for the orange rinds, I just had clementine cuties, and it worked just perfect.

Oh yummy-licious.

The Specs:

Spicy Chinese Chicken

- serves 2 -

2 t. oil (vegetable or canola)

2 T. chopped garlic (3-4 cloves)

3 T. chopped green onions (about 3 onions)

1 c. pineapple juice

2 T. chili sauce (found in the Asian section of any grocery store)

2 T. rice vinegar

4 t. sugar

1 t. soy sauce

2T water & 1T. cornstarch for thickening sauce

1 c. oil

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/3 c. cornstarch

Make sauce by heating 2t. oil in medium saucepan. Saute the garlic and onions for a few seconds, not allowing ingredients to burn, then quickly add the pineapple juice, chili sauce, vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce.

Dissolve cornstarch and water mixture and add to the saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and continue to simmer on medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until thick and syrupy.

Heat 1 c. oil in wok or pan. Chop chicken into bite-size pieces. In a bowl or Ziploc bag, toss chicken with cornstarch until dusted.*

Saute coated chicken until light brown. Remove chicken to a rack or paper towels to drain for a moment. Add chicken to sauce and serve immediately with rice on the side.

Orange Peel Chicken

- serves 3 to 4 -

1 T. oil

2 T. minced garlic

4 green onions, sliced

1 c. tomato sauce

1/2 c. water

1/4 c. sugar

2 T. chili sauce

1 T. soy sauce

peel from 1/4 of an orange, julienned into 1/8in. wide strips)

1/2 c. oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 c. cornstarch

Prepare sauce by heating 1 T. oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and sliced green onions. Add tomato sauce and water quickly before the garlic burns. Add sugar, chili sauce, soy sauce, and orange strips; bring to boil. Simmer 5 to 6 minutes or until sauce thickens, then turn to low.

Heat 1 c. oil in wok or pan. Chop chicken into bite-size pieces. In a bowl or Ziploc bag, toss chicken with cornstarch until dusted.*

Saute coated chicken until light brown. Remove chicken to a rack or paper towels to drain for a moment. Add chicken to sauce and serve immediately with rice on the side.

*To make this dish a little more heart-friendly, (and half the time I don't feel like cleaning up grease spatters), I'll chop my chicken, then saute it with a little olive oil and garlic powder. It doesn't have the same "crunch" as the fried, but when you put it with the sauce, you'll hardly miss the crunch. And your arteries will thank you.