BETTER THAN TAKEOUT – Orange Chicken

Hello everyone, welcome to Soup Recipes. Today we are going to prepare a famous American Chinese food:

orange

chicken

. It's not traditional, but the technique of making fried

chicken

and cooling it with a sweet and sour sauce is commonly used in many Chinese recipes, such as sweet and sour pork, shrimp, tofu, and fish. Whatever you call it. In this video, I'll show you how to achieve that crispy on the outside, soft and juicy on the inside, and a perfectly balanced sweet and sour sauce so you can make anything sweet and sour. OK lets start. First, you'll need some chicken.

I use chicken breast. Trim excess fat. Cut it in half. Tilt the knife at 45 degrees and cut the chicken into quarter-inch-thick pieces. I'm usually a chicken thigh person, but today I just had chicken breast, and that will work too if you marinate it well. It's very simple, 1/2 teaspoon salt, a little black pepper to taste. The trick is that I use freshly squeezed

orange

juice as a meat tenderizer. I use the whole juice of half an orange, about two tablespoons. The acid in the fruit can tenderize the meat and this amount of liquid will keep the meat moist.

Simply mix everything until the chicken absorbs all the liquid. Cover it and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. So let's make a dough. Break two eggs. Beat them well. Add one hundred grams of cornstarch. Use a fork to stir it constantly. Cornstarch may clump at first. Just keep doing it. Once you have most of the flour, scrape the edge with a rubber spatula. Keep mixing it and you will get a very smooth and shiny dough. Add chicken; You really want to get in between each piece of chicken and make sure they are all well coated.

Heat the oil to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don't have a thermometer, you can try dropping a small amount of dough. If you see it bubbling a lot and immediately floating to the surface, it means you're ready to go. Take them out and you can add the chicken. I use my hand directly on the hot oil. It looks dangerous, but it's not because I don't cause splatters by dropping the chicken near the oil. Of course you can use chopsticks or tongs. Don't put pressure on the pan and make sure they don't stick; If they do, they get divorced.

Stir continuously to ensure uniform frying. You can take them out when you feel the surface hardening; It is not necessary for them to be golden. There will be some small crumbs left in the oil; Remove them as they affect the quality of the oil. Fry the second batch of chicken once you've finished everything. Set the chicken aside and let it rest for 10 minutes. We are going to fry the chicken twice. This time, heat the oil to 390 degrees Fahrenheit. You can add all the chicken at once because they won't stick together anymore. Double frying is key to making sure all the chicken pieces are crispy.

Keep stirring until you get a golden color. We reserve and make the sauce. Heat your wok. Add a little oil, some ground ginger, garlic and chili powder (this is optional if you don't eat seafood, no need to add it). Stir until fragrant, then pour in a quarter cup of orange juice. It's

better

if it's freshly squeezed. Commercial longevity juice doesn't have that tropical citrus flavor. 3.5 tablespoons light soy sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons orange zest. Stir to melt sugar. I like to add a tablespoon of honey just for honey flavor. This is optional and also depends on your taste.

Add three tablespoons of white vinegar; The reason we added it now is so we can lower the temperature of the liquid and be able to add the cornstarch water. If you add the cornstarch while the liquid is boiling, clumps will form. Continue cooking over medium-low heat. Be sure to taste the sauce and find the perfect balance of sweet, sour, and salty. I've made it many times and I know it's perfect for me. In about 2 minutes you should reach a consistency a little thicker than the texture of syrup. If the sauce is too thin, the chicken will lose its crunch when you mix everything together.

Okay, I think the texture looks good. Turn off the heat and add all the chicken. Stir quickly and make sure all the pieces are well coated. Take them out and you can serve. Put some sliced ​​green onion and red chili powder. I have a few extra orange pieces left; put it in the bowl to highlight the color; It looks good in presentation. Look at it; I have always believed that food that looks brilliant equals delicious. It would be good just with some plain rice. Let's try. Do you hear that? It's so crispy. Oh, that's delicious. The orange juice in the marinade does a very good job of keeping the chicken juicy and tender.

It also smells delicious, very fresh. You can really taste that orange citrus flavor and I love the sweet and sour sauce. For me it's perfect, but everyone has different tastes. What you have to do is take my recipe and adapt it to your preferences; then you have a formula and you can make anything sweet and sour. I hope you try it soon. If you left me a comment tell me how it goes. As always, the recipe will be in the description below the video. You can go check it. Don't forget to visit my channel. I am sure you will discover how to prepare your favorite Chinese food.

New videos come out every Wednesday and we'll see you next time. Bye bye!