Orange Chicken

Another Americanized-Chinese food classic.  This recipe is actually pretty involved to make but the taste is outstanding.  The orange sauce alone is phenomenal and worth re-using in other recipes (I beefed it up with extra orange juice and zest to make the flavour stronger).

Ingredients

• Chicken
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 lbs chicken breast, cubed
• 1 egg, beaten
• Oil
• Orange Sauce
• 3 cups water
• 6 tbsp orange juice
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2/3 cup rice vinegar
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 1/2 tbsp grated orange peel
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp grated ginger root
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 6 tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 4 tbsp chopped green onion (for garnish)
• White rice, prepared

Directions

1. For chicken, combine flour, salt, & pepper.
2. Dip chicken pieces in egg and then coat in flour mixture.
3. Deep fry chicken in batches at 375ºF.
4. In large pot, combine water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.  Mix over medium heat.
5. Add orange peel, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and red pepper.  Bring to a boil.
6. In separate bowl, combine corn starch and cold water.  Mix thoroughly.
7. Slowly add corn starch mixture to sauce until thickened.  (Caution: it thickens faster then you might expect)
8. Put chicken into thickened orange sauce.  Coat well.
9. Serve chicken & sauce over white rice.  Garnish with chopped green onion.