I am a big fan of tangy and savory dishes and a couple of weeks ago I felt like eating Chinese food. So I thought… why not put the 2 things together? I had some oranges on my kitchen benchtop, so I did some research on the internet and came across a very interesting recipe for orange chicken over at Rasa Malaysia. The taste was amazing and the chicken was soft and tangy, but I was not totally satisfied with the batter: adding the chicken fritters into the hot sauce while still on the fire made the batter soften and come apart. This resulted in a messy sauce, with pieces of batter in it! Not really what I had in mind… I guess I was not fast enough with the stir frying (it is really not an “Italian thing”!). The taste though was so good that I HAD to give it another shot and decided to modify the way it was put together. I just added the sauce to the chicken fritters after everything was ready and I can tell you it was delicious, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside… exactly what I wanted. Just make sure your chicken cooks through when you deep fry it as there is nothing worse than undercooked chicken! Enjoy with some plain or fried rice.
Recipe adapted from Rasa Malaysia – Orange Chicken
Ingredients (for 4 persons):
500 gms – 1 lb chicken tenderloins (cut into small bite-size cubes)
For the stir fry
½ tsp dried red chillies crushed
1 ½ to 2 tsp minced orange zest
4 cloves garlic (minced)
½ tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Sesame seeds
Oil for deep frying
For the orange sauce
1/2 cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup chicken broth
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 to 4 tbsp vinegar (depending on how sweet your oranges are)
10 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp corn starch
Salt and pepper to taste
For the batter
1 cup water
115 gms all-purpose flour
55 gms corn starch
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 teaspoon vegetable oil plus more for deep frying
1 pinch of salt
Mix all the orange sauce ingredients together and sieve it to obtain a smooth sauce. Keep it aside.
Mix the ingredients for the batter and dip the chicken pieces into it.
Deep fry them in hot vegetable oil until golden brown and cooked through. You will need to regulate the oil temperature so that the chicken cooks through without burning: do not put the fire too high. Transfer them onto a plate lined with paper towels to drain the excess oil.
In a wok, add 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil and stir fry the garlic and ginger pastes for 30 seconds.
Add the dried red chillies and the grated orange zest. Now add the orange sauce. Cook until the sauce thickens.
Dip each chicken piece in the sauce, put in a plate and decorate with sesame seeds and some extra orange sauce. Serve hot with some plain steamed long grain rice or fried rice.
Your orange chicken look so perfect, they’re worth giving the recipe another go. In your first photo, the chicken looked like little orange balls themselves…how amazing! Btw, I’ve missed so many good posts on your blog. I had a good scroll through and i wanted you to know that your last 5 posts are incredible – I love them all!
Ohhhh thank you soooo much Maya! This means a lot coming from you as I respect you and your talent a LOT!!! <3 <3 <3
I love these Manuela! You got the chicken bits perfectly crisp and the sauce looks fantastic and so easy to pull off.
Manu, these orange balls look incredible. Wonderful photos – making me extremely frustrated since want to taste. Can imagine they are divine with the perfect crisp and that sauce…! Divine. Bon weekend J xo
Oh I love orange chicken! And yours looks especially good!
This is one of my favorite chinese food recipes to make too! Yours looks really yummy!
Oh that looks so good. I love orange and lemon chicken! So tasty 🙂 You’re doing great with your Asian dishes! Buzzed
Not a huge fan of Chinese Food (I usually find it too greasy), but the one dish I adore is orange chicken. Your batter looks crispy and the sauce sounds delicious!
I Love Chinese Food and this is one of my favorite! Even though Orange Chicken is more of an American-Chinese dish, it’s still Chinese food to me! 🙂 You did the correct way of cooking it by tossing it quickly with the sauce instead of cooking with it. I would even double fry it so ensure its crunchiness. I love the look of those coming from Manu’s Wok, oh I mean Manu’s Menu, he he he.
Have a good weekend, Manu!
~ ray ~
LOL! Thank you sooooo much Ray! <3
CRAVING this right now. My husband would love this. Its a favorite of his. Bookmarked 🙂
Can you believe I never had orange chicken before? And why order it when you just showed how easy and delish they turn out making it yourself. Whenever we have Chinese food we always go for dim sum and neglect the other dishes. When I manage to make dim sum at home…there will be no more eating out. So you can imagine I am taking my sweet time =)
Orange chicken is American Chinese food but I have to say I love orange chicken…just don’t tell my husband. Heeheehee. All these pictures made me crave for these chicken! I have to make it myself!!
Hehehe I had guess so… I had actually never eaten it before and I have never seen it on the menu of Chinese restaurants around here… I have seen lemon chicken, but never orange chicken… 😉 I have to say that I have a soft spot for oranges though…. hehehehe
This looks like an amazing dish, Manu!! So glad you perfected it for us all to try! Have a happy weekend~
I like Chinese food too. That chicken looks so good!
Another orange chicken lover here! I love the way you cook it, Manu! YUM! Love all the clicks too!
I love love love orange chicken and I’m so excited to have a recipe to try at home- looks like your modifications created a beautiful dish!!
Ooooh, I love orange chicken and yours looks perfect! So crispy and golden brown. I’m sure it tasted extra good being homemade. Great idea to make your own instead of ordering take-out!
I love meat with orange, and these fritters look delicious! 🙂
Bocconcini da primo premio, Manu!
Glad you gave this dish another go, Manu. I love this food – crispy, tangy, spicy, delicious!
Bellissime foto … adesso … complimenti … dovrò provare a fare la tua ricetta!
It’s so great to see another Chinese dish you cooked and this orange chicken looks so beautiful & delicious with those sesame seeds! 😀
how cute… this reminds me of sweet and sour pork.. only 95% more healthy and so orangey like 🙂
awesome!
Love, love, love orange chicken! These look wonderful. I’ve always wanted to make this, but … now I have no excuse with such a great recipe that’s been perfected! Question – what type of vinegar? Rice, white, cider?
Hi MJ! I actually used red wine vinegar as that is my staple in the pantry, but I think even white wine vinegar or rice vinegar would work fine. 🙂
Thanks! I’m going to give this a try.
Love the looks of your Orange Chicken, i think my family will love this. Also love your photos too
Hooray for the Top 9!!!! xo
So much better than take-out. Congratulations on Top 9!
Looks delicious…congrats on top 9!
It is lunch time here and I am so drooling over your tangy chicken..what a great recipe, and your photos are mmmm so good!
I like it when it’s lightly dipped too. I never care for those cloyingly sweet and heavy sauces. Your orange chicken looks perfect; crispy, sweet and tangy.
You know Arvind loves orange chicken and there is this Chinese restaurant and Arvind will always pick orange chicken 🙂 Thanks for the recipe dear .. will have to make it !
Very ameri-chinese but also pretty good! Actually one of my favorite dishes at local chinese restaurants… and now I can make it at home! Thanks!!
That is a great solution and it looks delicious: I can imagine the texture and flavors perfectly by looking at the picture.
No oranges in the house, but I used this batter on chicken for another recipe. It’s fabulous and a keeper. It’s perfect and doesn’t fall apart and taste wonderful. Thanks so much.
I am so happy you like the batter for the chicken! 🙂 And thank you so much for stopping by and letting me know, I really appreciate it! :-))))) Hope to see you around often! 🙂