Orange Zest Deep Fried Chicken

The Orange zest chicken is a simple home remake of the orange chicken from Panda Express in the USA.

This recipe is from the original creator of the orange chicken, Jimmy Wang, Panda Express, featured by Tasty. Credits where it's due.

For CHICKEN:

chicken (diced)

1 tbsp salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cornstarch

3 cup flour

1 egg

1.5 cup water

2 tbsp oil (marinating)

oil for deep frying

1) On the cutting board, chop your chicken, preferably chicken breast or thighs, into bite size pieces.

2) In a mixing bowl, mix the salt pepper, cornstarch and flour.

3) To the dry ingredients, add the egg, water and oil until it is thick

4) Add the chicken to the batter and put in fridge for a minimum of 30 mins.

5) Heat a small pot of oil until boiling.

6) Dip the marinated chicken in the oil and deep fry the chicken till slightly brown.

7) The chicken should then be dried on paper towels.

For ORANGE SAUCE:

1 tbsp oil

Chili Flakes

Garlic

Ginger

Min 1/4 cup Sugar

Some Brown Sugar

1 orange, squeezed for juice

1/4 vinegar

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp cornstarch with 2 tbsp water

1 tsp sesame oil

1) On a separate pan, add oil, chili flakes, garlic and ginger. Cook for 30 secs, stirring vigorously.

2) Add sugar and brown sugar, while stirring to allow the mixture to come together. At this point, you should smell the caramelising sugars.

3) Add the orange juice and allow the sugars to dissolve, stirring occasionally.

4) Add the vinegar and soy sauce, tasting the mixture to adjust it to your taste buds.

5) Add the cornstarch mixture to the pan and stir continuously.

6) Finally, add the chicken to the mixture. Mix the chicken thoroughly, making sure that the chicken pieces are all coated fully with the orange sauce. You may need to do the chef flip with the chicken.

7) The chicken can then be topped with sesame oils or sesame seeds.