ORANGE CHICKEN . . . . . PANTRY STYLE . . . MAKE-A-MIX . . . .FINALLY!

First a Disclaimer . . . AKA . . . . . a lame excuse?  I have been side tracked so many times, by so many things &  so many little people.   Throw in a little eye surgery (I'll spare you the pic of that, my granddaughter told me it was disgusting!) and time has just evaporated. 


I am going through the old posts and trying to finish the follow-ups where promised, "pantry-fy"  & translate into make-a-mix where promised and just get it all pulled together again & get back on track.  So here is the first one!


First---Refer back to the original Orange Chicken HERE
Next---Find the pictures I put on last week or at least recently HERE
FINALLY---  ORANGE CHICKEN, PANTRY STYLE:


2 lbs. chopped chicken . .  or pork will work (like I used tonight . . .  oops, caught me?!?)


ORANGE SAUCE
1 teaspoon            Ginger, ground
2 teaspoons          Garlic powder (I prefer granulated)
1 teaspoon            Crushed red chile flakes (recipe calls for red ceyenne pepper, only for masochists, I'd say)
4 tablespoons       Minced onion, dried (soak in hot tap water for a few minutes before adding)
1/2 cup                   Sugar

1-2 tablespoons    Orange zest, dried


3 tablespoons       Soy sauce

3 tablespoons       Water (OK confession time, I have been caught using orange juice concentrate . . . love that extra fruity flavor)

1/2 cup                 White Vinegar ( rice vinegar will also work or sometimes I         use apple cider vinegar . . .adds to that extra fruity flavor that I love!)

Mix the liquid ingredients in sauce pan, add the dry ingredients.  Mix and bring to a gentle boil.  Let it simmer for hm-m-m-m-m let's say five minutes.

While that is simmering, stir fry the chopped meat in your heavy skillet or wok (some day I will find mine again).  When the meat is nice and brown, thicken the sauce with 1 tablespoon corn starch dissolved in 1/2 cup water.  Add to the sauce, cook until thick.  Add to the meat in skillet and stir until it is well coated, heated through and nice and sticky.

If you forgot to put the rice on to steam before you started (yes, I forgot tonight)  get out those ramen noodles quick and serve on top of those, oh, and what the heqq, cook 'em first.


Just in case you didn't notice, I didn't coat and deep fry the meat tonight.  I sautee'd in about 1 T. peanut oil and 1 t. toasted sesame seed oil. Much lower in fat, fewer calories and it reheats much better than the coated meat does. 

This sauce freezes beautifully for future use. 


If you want quick yummy meals, coat the meat and freeze in ziplock bags after squeezing the extra air out.  Make some minute rice or ramen noodles while you thaw and heat it up . . . a great 5-minute meal or snack!




MAKE-A-MIX    (For ten batches of Orange Sauce)


 Here are the portions to Make-A-Mix of the dry seasons, etc. if you would like to shorten the prep time in the future.

3 1/2 Tablespoons      Ginger, ground
1/3  cup                       Garlic powder
1 1/2 Tablespoon        Red chile flakes
3 1/4 cups                    Minced onion, dried
6 1/4 cups                   Sugar
8 Tablespoons            Orange zest, dried

Add 1 1/2 cups Mix to liquids:

3 T.                             Soy sauce
1/2 cup                        Water (increased since onions will not be rehydrated before hand)
1/2 cup                        White vinegar

Mix the ingredients well.  To make a batch of Orange Sauce, scoop a scant 1 1/2 cups of mix.  Boil gently in liquids for about five minutes.  Thicken with 1 T. corn starch dissolved in 1/3 cup water.