General Tso Chicken w/ Chicken Fried Rice

My husband and I have a takeout weakness...Chinese food. In fact, it is the only takeout weakness that we have. Most nights we can keep ourselves from the temptations of takeout, but when it comes to Chinese food, we tend to give in more often than not. The takeout tastes wonderful, but it takes a toll on our digestive systems. I decided to try and come up with our own version so that we'd be able to know what is going into our food and maybe avoid the upset tummy that follows takeout too.

We all loved both recipes, so from now on, I think we'll be having Chinese take-in instead! I did fry the chicken this time, but I think that next time I'm going to try baking it instead to make it a little more healthy.

General Tso's Chicken

Chicken Ingredients:
1-2lbs Boneless Chicken Breast cut into 2 inch chunks
2 Eggs
2 tsp Cayenne pepper
salt/pepper - to taste
1 Cup Flour
1/4 Cup Cornstarch

Sauce Ingredients:
Zest of 1 Orange
1 Cup Orange Juice
1/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
4 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

General Tso Chicken Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cayenne, salt and black pepper to taste. In a paper bag, shake together salt, pepper, flour and cornstarch. Dip the chicken in batches, first in egg mixture, then in the flour mixture and shake to coat. Set on a wire rack and let sit 10 minutes. In the meantime, add about 1 inch of oil to a large heavy skillet. Heat the skillet over medium heat and preheat so that oil is ready for frying when chicken is done resting.

While chicken is resting, prepare sauce. In a large straight sided saute pan combine orange zest, orange juice, brown sugar, butter, hot pepper flakes and Worcestershire sauce. Stir, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until thickened, 5 to 8 minutes.

Carefully place chicken in hot oil and fry until golden and crispy, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer to the saute pan with the sauce and toss until evenly coated. Serve with Chicken Fried Rice (recipe below).

Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients:
4 Cups cold cooked rice
1/2 lb cooked chicken breast, chopped
4 Green onions, chopped
2 Eggs
1-2 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp oil
Salt/Pepper - To Taste

Directions:

In the bottom of a wok, or large stir fry pan, scramble the eggs until firm. Remove eggs from pan and set aside. Add oil to pan, followed by the rice and soy sauce. Stir fry the rice until warm all the way through. Add chicken and green onions and stirfry for a few more minutes until all ingredients are heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.