Orange Balsamic Chicken

I have never been the biggest fan of deep fried orange chicken. Something about it to me feels too processed and fake. I like my chicken juicy and savory, where it doesn’t make me feel terrible after I’ve eaten it. Maybe this all comes from having food poisoning each of the three times I’ve had Panda Express. Ever since, I have mostly stayed away from American Chinese fast food restaurants and I have been looking to make more authentic Asian dishes. I don’t have much experience cooking these kind of meals and I thought this would be a good place to start. What I really liked about this version of orange chicken which I adapted (out of necessity) from Rachel Ray, was that the cinnamon, orange and balsamic really blended well and neither overpowered the other.

Ingredients

Marinade

• 2 lbs. Boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 2 inch pieces)
•  1 tsp Cinnamon (ginger substitute)
• 1 tbsp White wine (sake substitute)
• 1 tbsp Poultry seasoning
• 1 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp Black pepper

Orange Balsamic Sauce

• 1/3 cup Orange marmalade
• 1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup Chicken stock
• 1/4 cup Orange juice

Cooking/other

• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 small sweet chili peppers diced
• 1 medium saucepan
• 2 Pots (for mixing)

Instructions

First, cut the chicken into small 2 inch pieces and place them in a bowl. Then add all of the Marinade ingredients to the bowl, mix them up and set aside for 15-30 minutes. Dice the sweet chili peppers into small pieces. I was cooking at my girlfriend’s house and her household did not have sake or ginger, (they clearly don’t love sake-bombs) so I improvised with some white wine and cinnamon.

In a small bowl mix all of the orange balsamic sauce ingredients and set aside. The color of this sauce will be more brown than orange and that is due to the balsamic vinegar.

Set a medium frying fan to medium high and cook the chicken for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Add the sweet chili peppers to the pan and cook for 5 minutes with the chicken. Remove them from the pan once done. Pour the orange balsamic sauce over the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Add the diced peppers to the chicken, serve with rice and enjoy.

I saw the legendary BT last night and he did not disappoint. From the classic ‘Calling your name’ to ‘Surrounded’ it was quite the set the brought back some memories.

The 2013 remix with Emma Hewitt & Tritonal.