OK, so this recipe came out of necessity. We were craving Chinese food. But as is true with a lot of the households out here, the economy had hit the home budget hard. I could get on the political soapbox here, but that's more appropriate on about 527,043 other political blogs out there.
So we wanted to feed 4 people Chinese food but if you go to a restaurant, by the time you have four meals plus drinks plus tax plus tip or delivery charge, we're talking around $36.00. Hate to say it, but there have been times a few days before a paycheck that $36.00 is just too much. So it was off to the laboratory to see what I could create.
Our family really likes Orange Chicken and Sweet and Sour Chicken. And even though the colors of some of the sauces are not colors that normally occur in nature, I'm a believer in using the bottled sauces. I'm trying out a few recipes to see if I can make a yummy and inexpensive way of doing it, but until then, I really like using the bottled Panda Express Sauce. It's not an exact match of what is served there, but it's pretty darn close. Find one you like and go with it.
Now we need to have a batter for the chicken. I was able to distill a few batter recipes down to something really simple. It creates a thin tempura-like coating that really holds onto the sauce well. It's not the thick battering that entombs the meat in about a pound of breading. And it's really easy to make. It's 1/2 cup water to 1/2 cup flour or cornstarch to 1 egg. This amount covers about a pound of chicken bits so double, triple or quadruple it depending how large of a batch you want to make.
Orange or Sweet and Sour Chicken
Serves 4
1 cup water
1 cup cornstarch or flour
2 eggs
2 lbs chicken breasts or tenders
Bottle of Calona, Vegetable or other type of oil
Bottle of Orange, Sweet and Sour or your favorite sauce
Pour the oil into a saucepan or a large saute pan so the oil is at least two inches deep (or use a deep fryer if you have it). Heat the oil to 325 degrees. While the oil is heating, cut the chicken into small, slightly less than bite size pieces. Add the water, cornstarch/flour and eggs into a bowl and stir continually until well blended. Place about a 1/2 pound of the chicken into the batter and stir it around. When the oil has reached the right temperature, start adding the chicken piece by piece. Using a fork or tongs, pick up a piece of chicken, dip it into the oil and swirl it around for 2-3 seconds. This will set the outside of the batter so it won't stick to the other pieces or bottom. Add enough so that the pieces won't crowd each other as they are floating on the top. Once all the pieces are added that will fit, cook for an additional 4 minutes.
After cooking, remove with a slotted spoon so the oil will drain off. Place the pieces on a cooling rack while you cook the rest of the chicken. When ready to serve, pour about a 1/4 cup of the sauce in a large bowl. Warm up the sauce in the microwave if you want for about 20 seconds. Place about 1/4 of the cooked chicken in the bowl and stir or spin the bowl until the pieces are glazed with the sauce. Place on a serving plate while you coat the rest.
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It's a good little meal, and while you're frying, you could also make the Ham Fried Rice recipe to round out the dinner. As you get to the last few batches, cook each component of the rice and finish it up during the last batch of chicken fries away. So how does the cost of these ingredients compare to the Restaurant price?
Bottle of Sauce: $3.50
2 lbs of Chicken Breast: $4.50
Ingredients for fry coating: $0.12
Rice: $0.25
Soy Sauce: $0.10
Frozen Carrots and Peas: $0.25
Ham: $1.20
Eggs: $0.25
Oil: $2.00
Total: $12.02
And even if you want to do half orange chicken and half sweet and sour chicken, that's one extra bottle of sauce, which still keeps the price under $16. Compared to eating out, that's still about a $20 savings. And if you do buy two sauces, it means you have leftover sauce to make this another batch another day for even cheaper. So make this at home, rent a couple of Redbox movies (you can get free promo codes at www.insideredbox.com) and have a cheap dinner and movie night at home.
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