Orange Chicken & Egg Rolls

Many years ago I was in charge of the Blue and Gold Banquet for the Cub Scouts in our area. Our theme was the Orient - I consulted  my committee and one of them had a recipe for homemade egg rolls. She kindly volunteered to make them as part of our dinner. One taste and I was hooked, I asked for her recipe. 

The other day at the store Becka and were walking through the produce department and they had a larger that normal display of egg roll wrappers (assuming for the up coming Chinese New Year (Jan, 23, 2012)), and she commented that home made egg rolls sounded good. Sorry to say these are a bit time consuming. So I told her I would get the ingredients and she could make them seeing that she was out of school last Friday. So as I was at work I kept getting texts, "Do I drain the meat? What are Bean Sprouts?" as I explained to her where to find these - I was pleasantly surprised to come home to her rolling egg rolls and they smelled amazing. She then reminded me that we had a bunch of oranges and Orange chicken sounded good. She found a recipe and as I was frying the egg rolls she started on it - they both turned out Amazing! so I am sharing them with you today. 

Egg Rolls

3-4 pkg Egg roll skins (5x5)                                                     *Seasoning

4 celery stocks                                                                      ½ tsp Pepper

1/3 lb Bean Sprouts                                                              ½ tsp Garlic

4 Med onions                                                                         ½ tsp Celery salt

2 Med heads of Cabbage                                                    1 tsp salt

1/2 Lb Carrots                                                                       1/4 tsp Bon Appetite

4c Meat                                                                                   ¼-1/2 Chili powder

1 can water chestnuts sliced                                                 ¼ c Soy Sauce

Directions: Cook meat. Grind/chop veggies. Mix in large bowl & add seasoning. Mixture should be moist, squeeze a handful- If it drips, good; if dry add a little water. Do not saturate. Place one large spoonful of mixture in to egg roll skin. Fry in electric skillet at 350°

Some short cuts we found work well is on the cabbage - we bought the Cole slaw shreds, we also omitted the Bon Appetite (this is MSG) because of allergies. Our favorite choice of meat is ground turkey, however ground beef and pork is good too. 

Orange Chicken

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces

1 eggs                                                                               1 1/2 teaspoons salt

White pepper                                                                    oil ( for frying)

1/2 cup cornstarch, plus                                                   1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup flour

Directions

Place chicken pieces in large bowl. Stir in egg, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon oil and mix well. Stir cornstarch and flour together. Mix flour mixture and egg mixture. Add chicken pieces, stirring to coat. Heat oil for deep-frying in wok or deep-fryer to 375°. Add chicken, small batches at a time, and fry 3 to 4 minutes or until golden crisp. (Do not overcook chicken). Remove chicken from oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels; set aside.

Orange Sauce for Stir Fry

1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce                                             1 1/2 tablespoons water

5 tablespoons sugar                                                            5 tablespoons white vinegar

Zest of 2 oranges,

Combine and set aside. 

1 tablespoon ginger root, minced                                         1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon crushed hot red chili peppers                        1/4 cup green onions, chopped

1 tablespoon rice wine (or substitute water)                        1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions

Heat  skillet (or Wok) 15 seconds over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant; about 10 seconds. Add and stir-fry crushed chilies and green onions.  Add rice wine (or water) and stir 3 seconds. Add 1st mixture and bring to boil. Add cooked chicken, stirring until well mixed. Stir water into remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth and add to chicken. Heat until sauce is thickened. Stir in sesame oil and additional orange zest if desired. Serve over rice.

Note: I do not own a Wok I just used my skillet  on my stove and this worked beautifully.  

Have fun Cookin'

Cyndi