Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Orange Chicken with Fried Crispy Basil


We love anything Asian around here, I'm half Filipina so I grew up with some pretty tasty meals at the dinner table (thanks mom). One dish we love to get whenever we order Chinese food to go (which is seldom - I'd rather make it at home) is Orange Chicken. Any dish with citrus in it is one of our favorites, that is how we roll in our home.

Crispy chicken, delicious sauce, steamed white rice and crispy basil topping? You can't go wrong. We love making this dish - hope you have a chance to try it.



Look at that fried basil! It's like eating potato chips, you can't have just one! (WARNING: If you have never fried basil, you MUST, I repeat you MUST have an oil splatter shield as it does make the oil pop. I use tongs to place basil in oil and then put a shield over the pan until basil is done cooking). Be forewarned, Jaime will tell you it hurts if you don't use basil protection!



What you need:
1 1/2 cups of water
2 T orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup of rice vinegar
2 1/2 T soy sauce
1 T of orange zest
1 cup of packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic
2 T chopped green onion
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
****
3 T of cornstarch
2 T of water
****
4 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized cubes
1 to 2 cups of flour
1 to 2 eggs
1 1/2 cup of oil
Directions:
Pour 1 1/2 cups of water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar and soy sauce into a saucepan and set over medium to high heat. Stir in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, green onion and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let simmer on low heat for 30 minutes prior to pouring over cooked chicken. **BEFORE** you pour this sauce over your cooked chicken, in a small bowl add 3T of corn startch and 2T of water, mix well and pour into sauce and stir until sauce thickens.
***
Take your chicken cubes, add egg, stir until all pieces are coated well with egg. Place chicken in flour and coat well. Place in a hot fryer or pan with oil and cook until golden brown.
***
Once your chicken is done cooking, pour orange sauce over chicken and garnish with sliced green onions and crispy fried basil. Serve with white rice.

36 comments:

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

Oh my! What a meal. I would indulge.

Elyse said...

Haha, consider me warned about the popping oil with the fried basil. Fried basil does sound delicious, as does this chicken dish. Man oh man, I'm a fan of every flavor you have going on. I need to get myself a splatter guard and then make this asap.

Bunny said...

I have everything to make this, I can't believe it. That doesn't happen to me very often. I'm getting the chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow!!

Jaime and Jen DISH said...

Elyse, GET A SPLATTER GUARD or heat your oil up and before it gets too hot add the basil and then turn the heat up more. Either way, I have a burn on my chest to prove that splatter guards are important!

Jaime and Jen DISH said...

Bunny, you'll love it!!! Isn't it the best when you have ALL the ingredients on hand?!

Buster's Pearl . . . Always said...

my daughter will love you forever for posting this dish. we just removed our chicken diosa from our next week's menu and will be adding this one in it's place! can't wait to try it!

Stephanie said...

Fried basil?? I've had fried sage in Italy, but never fried basil! I must try this

Jaime said...

i love orange chicken!! i've made crispy basil before and while it's very cool i did not find the basil to have a lot of flavor (compared to fresh)

thanks for visiting my blog! it's nice to meet another Jaime :)

Reeni said...

This looks delicious! I love orange chicken! I bought oranges today with a similar dish in mind. But I have never tasted fried basil. Fried sage is divine-I will definitely try the basil!

Rachel said...

I've never tried orange chicken, but we LOVE Chinese food! This looks delicious!

Meghan said...

My husband and I LOVE orange chicken!!! This looks so good! Can't wait to try. I've never had fried basil before :) I'll put a splatter guard on my list!

Dragon said...

I love fried crispy basil! I bet it tasted yummy with this chicken.

Unknown said...

I love orange chicken! I am definitely going to try this recipe. I'm a little afraid of the fried basil though :) I don't have a splatter guard and I've definitely experienced popping oil more than once before - not fun!

Anonymous said...

The chicken sounds excellent and I love the idea of fried crispy basil!

Unknown said...

Oh, this looks delicious! I'm going to go through your archives now and see what other goodies you've got on here :).

Van Santos said...

Oh! So tasty.

I may have missed it, but what type of oil did you use as that can - obviously - play into the taste. My first thought was peanut....

Jaime and Jen DISH said...

Van,

I did use peanut oil. I love peanut oil.

As far as the basil, I cooked that in olive oil.

Truly,

Jenifer

Christina Kim said...

Yum, looks so delicious!! I love citrus flavors. Do you use regular basil, or thai basil?

Jaime and Jen DISH said...

Christina Kim,

I just purchased fresh basil, good ol' regular basil. Try frying your basil, remember it pops once it hits the oil so protect yourself! :)

Jenifer

Lynn said...

This looks outstanding. I have bunches of basil right now and was wondering what I should do with it. Now I know :) Thanks.

Van Santos said...

Thanks for the input, Jennifer

Hornsfan said...

Man oh man does this look good! Can't wait to try this out - I've got Basil all over the place right now so this is perfect!

moderate Sherri said...

I am also a lover of Asian food. This looks incredibly delicious!

Tangled Noodle said...

This is great! It's recipes like this that finally help me realize that restaurant dishes are not that hard to make at home and are probably healthier when we do. I'm bookmarking this for immediate making. As for the fried basil, I love the idea but I'm such a baby when it comes to splattering oil. Maybe I can talk Mr. Noodle into doing it for me . . .

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

I love citrus flavors with chicken. I'd love to have this for dinner tonight.

Jaime and Jen DISH said...

Jen, I'm cracking up laughing...Basil Protection...trust me folks, when Jen told me about this, I immediately ran out and bought a Basil plant and fried me up some, burns and all, I loved it!!! But please be forewarned, it does pop like crazy.
Jaime

Anne said...

Wow, that looks amazing! I love basil and think that would be the perfect addition to the orange chicken. Yum!

teresa said...

We're a huge fan of citrus too, and I love dishes like this, especially with the fried basil, what a cool idea! Definitely going to give this a try!

Micah said...

I've been wanting a recipe for Orange Chicken ever since first trying it at Panda Express!

I know that comparing yours and Panda's is insulting but it's all I know. This is why I want a good recipe! Thanks! I can't wait to try it!

And my kitchen is equipped with a splatter screen and tongs. Yay me! :)

Anonymous said...

wow...that looks insanely yummy!

Culinary Wannabe said...

How yummy!! And thanks for the warning on the fried basil. All I'm picturing is that episode of the Newlyweds where Jessica Simpson is screaming because the oil from the frying pan is popping up at her.

Katy ~ said...

Coincidentally, I have just been looking at one of my cookbooks drooling over similar recipes. Yours is definitely drool worthy. I just know I'd LOVE it!

Anonymous said...

MMMM beautiful, this looks fantastic :)
Thank you for the blog comment on the bacon wrapped chicken, i have more blogs to put up, just a little slow :)
Good to meet you!!!

test it comm said...

That orange chicken sounds really tasty!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Mmmm, we love asian foods too and that looks amazing. Thanks for the heads up on frying basil.
~ingrid

Cramped Kitchen. said...

i love orange chicken and this looks delicious...I will be trying this very soon.