Orange Chicken - Fake National Chinese Fast Food Style!

Actually, I was hoping to replicate how the Crispy Orange Beef from Panda Inn (an independent in San Diego) used to make it, rather than the Orange Chicken at Panda Express, but they're no longer around and heaven knows how I'd get their actual recipe. I've never written to Bon Appetit to ask them to intervene on the subject, and it's just too late now, so get over it!

The Colonel loves Orange Chicken from Panda Express. I generally favor independent restaurants over chains and particularly when it comes to Chinese food, but the last time we had a craving, we had gone over to the County courthouse complex to get our license to get hitched, with the thought that we'd just hang out there and get in line to have the deed done. Turns out you have to line up at 4:30 PM to be served by a Justice of the Peace, and this was 10 AM, so we headed out to schedule the ceremony another day.

We decided to celebrate the procurement of the license with some Chinese and Freixenet, and there were not going to be many Chinese restaurants in our neighborhood open at 10 AM. We thought about Super Dragon where we had the yummy Peking Duck on Christmas in honor of Associate Justice Elena Kagan, but that wasn't going to work. So we ran by Panda Express.

I have been enjoying The Wok of Life blog and have a backlog of idea from them including Chinese BBQ pork and buns. This recipe turned out well enough but I tested the limits of The Colonel's heat tolerance with the chiles. I'd make it again but tone down the chiles in the recipe and have some more on the side for me.

Mangia!

Orange Chicken
Adapted from The Wok of Life

Ingredients

1 pound boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 ½ cup canola or vegetable oil for shallow frying the chicken

1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

6 dried red chili peppers

3 to 4 pieces dried tangerine or mandarin orange peel (optional, I used zest from a fresh orange)

2 star anise

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed into slurry with 2 tablespoons water

1 scallion sliced on an angle into 1 1/2-inch pieces

Toss the chicken in the sesame oil, white pepper, garlic powder, salt, and Shaoxing wine; set aside

for 20 minutes. Put the cornstarch in a shallow bowl, and heat the oil in a small pot until it reaches

350 degrees F. Dredge the chicken pieces in cornstarch and fry until golden. Transfer to a plate lined

with paper towel.

Heat a wok over medium heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Add the dried chili peppers, tangerine

peel, and star anise, and toast for about 20 seconds, being careful not to burn the aromatics. Add the

orange juice, chicken stock, vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce.

Bring the sauce to a simmer and gradually add the cornstarch slurry, stirring constantly. When the

sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon (you don't have to use all of the slurry if the sauce is thick

enough), add the chicken and scallions. Toss quickly, and serve!