Orange Chicken...fried yumminess

So for the past few years, my mom has been giving me some recipes...sometimes I cook them, sometimes I don't.  Well, my husband has been pestering me to make this one for quite a while as well, but it didn't sound that interesting to me so I never did. Until today. It wasn't actually that hard. Most of it, you can prepare in advance, as you have time.  I did the chicken early and the first half of the sauce. For the rest I chopped and measured everything else so all I would have to do is throw it together at the last minute. Yay!

What you need:

1 kg chicken - cut into cubes. You can buy the precut chicken as well
1 1/2 c flour
1 beaten egg
1/4 tsp salt and pepper
Peanut oil - erdnussol - I bought mine in Coop

Sauce:
1 1/2 c water (354 ml)
2 tbsp orange juice (as you will need the zest, you can just use the orange)
1/4 c lemon juice
1/3 c rice vinegar

2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (I used low sodium found at the Thai store)
1 tbsp orange zest - I used my cheese grater
1 c packed brown sugar - you can buy muscovado sugar at jelmoli but I'm not sure how similar it is.
1/2 tsp ginger root - I used the kind in the jar like for sushi since I couldn't find the root at Migros
1/2 tsp garlic (1 clove) minced
2 tbsp green onions - the whole onion.  Also save some to serve on top of the finished dish.
3 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water for thickening

In a deep pan or wok, pour in the peanut oil until you think it will cover the pieces of chicken.

Combine the flour salt and pepper. Put on a dinner size plate. Break an egg into a bowl and beat it with a fork until mixed.  Take a handful of your chopped chicken and coat it in the egg and then transfer it to the flour. Coat with flour and put into the pan of hot oil.
Do not feel the need to put all the chicken in at once unless you have a very large pan and a lot of oil. I did mine in 4 batches.

When the flour has browned, lift the chicken out and place on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

In a large pot (big enough to add your chicken to), combine the water, juices, vinegar and soy sauce. Blend over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Stir in the sugar zest, ginger, garlic and onions.  Bring to a boil.

 Add the cornstarch mixture a little bit at a time and cook until thickened. Add the chicken and heat through.




Serve with rice and/or broccoli  and top with green onions.

The make ahead breakfast muffin

So I was hoping that today would be cooler and I could get some baking in...no such luck. Its 29 C out and its just going to keep getting hotter.  Oh well...needed to make my breakfast for the week and it only took 20 minutes in the oven so at least I didn't heat up the flat too much. Sadly I won't be making my cinnamon roll cookies - those will have to wait till it's cooler!

I know I did a quick little breakfast post a while back, but this will show you how to make the muffins step-by-step.  My goal with them is to make something that is easy to grab in the morning (running late/errands/work/kids) but that will also keep you full for a few hours.  I keep playing with what I put into them but always put in egg, cheese and bacon.

You can use whatever type of dough you would like - pizza dough, pastry dough, the fluffy puff pastry..it just depends on your preference.  I have found dough at Coop that comes with two rolls and I find that easiest. One on the bottom and one on top. And it makes a good muffin.

I have been using a silicone muffin pan. If you don't have one, you will need to either use baking cups or grease your pan well so your muffins don't stick.

Also, you may want to only make 6-8 muffins so you can use more dough and they will be 'more put together' looking. Or less ingredients.

What you need:

Eggs - I used 6 for 12 muffins
Bacon - about 1 strip for every muffin
1 Zucchini, shredded (using a cheese grater)
Shredded cheese (I used Sprinz this time, but Appenzeller and Gruyere are also good)
1 red onion (rot zwiebel)
1 package dough (teig, in this case Blatterteig)
1 small package rosti - thought I would try it out, haven't before
Mustard is also good as it helps stick everything (or possibly creme fraiche)

Scramble the eggs in one pan, cook the bacon slices in another, and put the rosti in a third to brown (or cook the bacon, remove it and then cook the eggs in the bacon pan)  Meanwhile, shred the zucchini (if you're using it) and dice the onion. After the rosti browns a bit, I added the zucchini and onions. This is everything cooling off a bit so as to not melt the dough.

Lay out a piece of dough and sprinkle with some cheese, then layer the egg, bacon, rosti/zucchini/onion and a little more cheese.

Cover with the other piece of dough and sprinkle the middle with some chives or a drizzle of mustard/creme fraiche and slice into however many muffins you want to make. I made 12 so hubby and I can each have one during the week for breakfast.

Roll the muffins up (this is a bit messy which is why you may want to use less ingredients (make sure they are cut small) or make bigger muffins.

Not all of them are perfect looking (the first and last give you an idea of what more dough would make them look like), but after baking they all stay together and look better.




Cook at the temperature and time indicated on the dough package.  I enjoy these cold, however hubby likes to heat them up in the morning