Dukan Orange Chicken

Orange Chicken

(NOTE: This is a scheduled post.)

We loved this recipe.

Today is Chinese New Year and decided to make one of our favorite Chinese recipes...Orange chicken.  We love orange chicken but gave it up when we started the Dukan Diet since most restaurants here and a lot of recipes batter and deep fry the chicken.  The other day Closet Cooking posted a sauteed orange chicken recipe, we knew we had to try it.

We didn't make many adjustments - cooked without oil, used Thai chilis instead of dried chilis since that's what we had on hand and we didn't have any fresh green onions, so we made this dish with only the green part of the green onions.

This is another easy dish.  We don't have a grater or zester at the male half of this couple's house, so the orange zest took us a while, but other than that, this was very easy to prepare.  You can probably make orange beef, chicken or pork with this sauce too.  If you don't want to use honey, use a natural sweetener. Start with 1/2 t. and add more natural sweetener if you prefer something sweeter.  We prefer ours less sweet.

Stir fries cook up quickly, so you'll want to have your ingredients prepped ahead of time.  When working with Thai chilis, you may want to wear gloves.

RECIPE:
Serves 1-2
Prep Time: 15 minutes or so
Cook Time: about 5 minutes

3/4 lb. chicken tenderloins, rinsed and sliced thin
2 Thai chilis, seeds removed and cut into thin slices or 5 dried red chilis soaked in water
2  cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced (grated if you have a grater)
2 green onions, chopped, - white and green parts separated
1 T. orange zest

Orange sauce:
1/4 c. orange juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 c. chicken broth, low sodium
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 T. rice vinegar (or white if you don't have rice vinegar)
1 T. honey (or your choice natural sweetener - start with 1/4 or 1/2 t. and go by taste)
1/2 t. sesame oil
1/4 t. pepper (white if you have it)
2 t. cornstarch

Mix your sauce ingredients together and set aside.  Heat wok over high heat, spray with a little bit of nonstick spray and stir fry chicken until almost done, set aside.  Spray wok again (or use a little bit of olive oil) and stir fry chilis, garlic and ginger (if you're using the white parts of your green onions, add those in now).  Stir fry for a minute, until fragrant.  Add back chicken, orange sauce and orange zest and cook until sauce thickens, just a couple minutes or so.   Serve as is or over jasmine brown rice.

Enjoy...we sure did!