Orange-Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry
Apr. 4th, 2022 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmith posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
recipecommunity"Orange-Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry"
Ingredients:
Sauce:
juice and zest of 1 mandarin orange
1 teaspoon Liber & Co. Blood Orange Cordial
1/4 cup ginger juice
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Stir-fry:
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 sweet onion, sliced
half a 1.25 pound package of skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 can baby corn, drained
9 oz. package of frozen sugar-snap peas or snow peas, steamed
Directions:
Zest and juice one mandarin orange.
In a small bowl, combine the zest and orange juice, 1/4 cup ginger juice, 1 teaspoon Liber & Co. Blood Orange Cordial, 1 tablespoon mirin, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Stir until cornstarch dissolves, then set aside.
Peel and mince 2 cloves of garlic. Set aside.
Place half a sweet onion flat side down, and slice so that it makes half-circles. Those will come apart into crescents when cooked. Set aside.
Take 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts and cut them into finger-size strips. Set aside.
Steam the peas and set aside.
Heat the wok. Add 2 tablespoons sunflower oil and swirl to coat the wok.
Add the minced garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a few seconds.
Put in the sliced onion. Stir-fry until the slices come apart into crescents and begin to turn translucent, but not fully cooked.
Add the chicken strips. Stir-fry until browned on all sides.
Put in the baby corn and the steamed peas. Stir-fry briefly to warm through.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables. At first it will be liquid and pool in the bottom of the wok. Stir-fry until the sauce turns thick and glossy, clinging to the other ingredients. The chicken should be fully cooked and the vegetables as tender as you want them.
Remove the wok from heat and serve. This recipe makes about 4 servings. Spoon it over rice, noodles, or another starchy base.
Observations:
Use a blood orange if you can find one. I used a mandarin because that's what I had. Any small orange, or half a large one, should work fine.
Liber & Co. Blood Orange Cordial has a vivid orange flavor, bright and sweet-tart on top with a musky middle and bitter finish that really captures the essence of blood oranges. It will make ordinary orange juice and zest taste like blood orange, and it adds great complexity to flavors. If you can't get the cordial, orange marmalade has a similar effect.
Ginger juice makes a great base for stir-fries. It's quite spicy fresh, but mellows with cooking. It's used at a 1:1 ratio for fresh ginger root, so if you don't have the juice, you can use the root instead. Minced ginger root should be added at the beginning with the garlic, and you'll need another liquid such as water or chicken broth for the sauce base.
My partner Doug thought the citrus was much stronger than the ginger. Options for future exploration:
* Add a thumb of minced ginger root with the garlic at the beginning.
* Add powdered ginger to the sauce.
* Add minced candied ginger to the sauce.
Mirin is a syrupy rice wine used in cooking. It adds sweet and savory notes, and gives body to the sauce.
Cornstarch is a thickener that makes the sauce cling to the other ingredients. You can also use tapioca starch.
Garlic has a pungent flavor that mellows significantly when cooked as an aromatic. Here it adds depth to an otherwise sweet recipe.
Sweet onions are less pungent than hot onions. They work well as a vegetable in stir-fries.
Chicken thighs have more moisture and flavor than breast meat. This makes them ideal for stir-fries because they're less prone to sticking or drying out. Cut long strips in half to bite size so that it's similar to the other ingredients.
Canned baby corn is a popular Asian vegetable. All you have to do is drain it and dump it in near the end of cooking. Here it adds a little salt to a recipe that doesn't have another source of salt.
Sugar-snap peas or snow peas will work equally well here. I had frozen sugar-snap peas in a steamer pouch, so that's what I used. If you have raw peas, you'll need to clean them and then add them just after the onions so they have time to cook.
Overall, we both liked this recipe. It came out sweet and a little spicy. We would like to try it again some time and have ideas for minor tweaks to improve it.
Ingredients:
Sauce:
juice and zest of 1 mandarin orange
1 teaspoon Liber & Co. Blood Orange Cordial
1/4 cup ginger juice
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Stir-fry:
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 sweet onion, sliced
half a 1.25 pound package of skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 can baby corn, drained
9 oz. package of frozen sugar-snap peas or snow peas, steamed
Directions:
Zest and juice one mandarin orange.
In a small bowl, combine the zest and orange juice, 1/4 cup ginger juice, 1 teaspoon Liber & Co. Blood Orange Cordial, 1 tablespoon mirin, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Stir until cornstarch dissolves, then set aside.
Peel and mince 2 cloves of garlic. Set aside.
Place half a sweet onion flat side down, and slice so that it makes half-circles. Those will come apart into crescents when cooked. Set aside.
Take 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts and cut them into finger-size strips. Set aside.
Steam the peas and set aside.
Heat the wok. Add 2 tablespoons sunflower oil and swirl to coat the wok.
Add the minced garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a few seconds.
Put in the sliced onion. Stir-fry until the slices come apart into crescents and begin to turn translucent, but not fully cooked.
Add the chicken strips. Stir-fry until browned on all sides.
Put in the baby corn and the steamed peas. Stir-fry briefly to warm through.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables. At first it will be liquid and pool in the bottom of the wok. Stir-fry until the sauce turns thick and glossy, clinging to the other ingredients. The chicken should be fully cooked and the vegetables as tender as you want them.
Remove the wok from heat and serve. This recipe makes about 4 servings. Spoon it over rice, noodles, or another starchy base.
Observations:
Use a blood orange if you can find one. I used a mandarin because that's what I had. Any small orange, or half a large one, should work fine.
Liber & Co. Blood Orange Cordial has a vivid orange flavor, bright and sweet-tart on top with a musky middle and bitter finish that really captures the essence of blood oranges. It will make ordinary orange juice and zest taste like blood orange, and it adds great complexity to flavors. If you can't get the cordial, orange marmalade has a similar effect.
Ginger juice makes a great base for stir-fries. It's quite spicy fresh, but mellows with cooking. It's used at a 1:1 ratio for fresh ginger root, so if you don't have the juice, you can use the root instead. Minced ginger root should be added at the beginning with the garlic, and you'll need another liquid such as water or chicken broth for the sauce base.
My partner Doug thought the citrus was much stronger than the ginger. Options for future exploration:
* Add a thumb of minced ginger root with the garlic at the beginning.
* Add powdered ginger to the sauce.
* Add minced candied ginger to the sauce.
Mirin is a syrupy rice wine used in cooking. It adds sweet and savory notes, and gives body to the sauce.
Cornstarch is a thickener that makes the sauce cling to the other ingredients. You can also use tapioca starch.
Garlic has a pungent flavor that mellows significantly when cooked as an aromatic. Here it adds depth to an otherwise sweet recipe.
Sweet onions are less pungent than hot onions. They work well as a vegetable in stir-fries.
Chicken thighs have more moisture and flavor than breast meat. This makes them ideal for stir-fries because they're less prone to sticking or drying out. Cut long strips in half to bite size so that it's similar to the other ingredients.
Canned baby corn is a popular Asian vegetable. All you have to do is drain it and dump it in near the end of cooking. Here it adds a little salt to a recipe that doesn't have another source of salt.
Sugar-snap peas or snow peas will work equally well here. I had frozen sugar-snap peas in a steamer pouch, so that's what I used. If you have raw peas, you'll need to clean them and then add them just after the onions so they have time to cook.
Overall, we both liked this recipe. It came out sweet and a little spicy. We would like to try it again some time and have ideas for minor tweaks to improve it.
