Orange Chicken (鮮橙雞柳)

Because chicken breast is usually thicker on one end and thinner on the other, take the chicken breast (12 oz) and cut it in half horizontally to even out the thickness. Then cut it into roughly 1/2 inch thick strips.

Put the chicken into a medium-sized bowl and push it to the side, so that you have room to mix together salt (1 tsp), cornstarch (1 tbsp), and water (1 tbsp). Dissolving the dry ingredients into the water first will make the marinade easier to distribute evenly. Then mix it all together.

Then, add and mix in the beaten egg (0.50 ), which will help the batter adhere to the chicken later on.

Slice orange (1 large) into 1/8ths, and then squeeze out the juice into a small bowl. Put the juiced slices aside for later.

If your juice has debris in it, you can strain it.

Add sugar (1.3 tbsp) and white vinegar (1 tbsp). You can adjust the amounts now, or later on, to your liking.

Add salt (0.50 tsp) and oyster sauce (1 tbsp). to enhance the orange sauce.

For presentation (and a refreshing snack between bites of chicken), we'll cut up the orange (1 large) for garnish. Cut the orange in half, and then into 1/4 inch slices.

We also want to use the peel from the orange slices that we juiced earlier, although this is optional. Turn your knife horizontal and carefully cut off leftover orange flesh and as much of the white pith as you safely can, until you are left with only the orange part of the peel. The pith tastes bitter and can really affect the flavor of your dish.

Then, slice the orange peel into very thin strips. You'll probably only want to use about half of it, because too much of the peel will make the dish taste bitter. Again, it's optional to use the peel at all.

Mix together flour (3 tbsp), cornstarch (1 tbsp), and baking powder (1 tsp). Then, mix in water (5 tbsp). You may need to add more water to get the correct consistency, but you can wait to see what it looks like after adding the other liquid ingredients.

Pour in beaten egg (0.25 ) and oil (1 tsp), and mix until thoroughly combined. The resulting batter should resemble pancake batter, giving some minor resistance when you stir it, with thin ribbons that fall and melt quickly into the batter. It'll be smooth and just thick enough so that it can coat the chicken well and become a crispy crust.

Turn up your fan, because we're going to deep-fry this chicken! In a deep pot, pour in enough oil (1 lb) so that the chicken will be submerged completely. Heat up the oil to 300°F.

While the oil heats up, mix the batter in with the chicken. Then, they're ready for the first fry.

Carefully place individual pieces of chicken into the oil, keeping them separate so they don't stick together. Fry the pieces until they're slightly golden, which takes about 2.5-3 minutes, and then scoop them carefully out of the pot and into a bowl or dish.

We recommend doing this initial fry in two or more batches, because it'll be easier to keep them from sticking together, and because bigger batches of chicken will make the temperature of the oil fall more rapidly, which may result in greasier, soggier chicken.

When all of the chicken has gone through the first fry, heat up the oil to 400°F. This is the fry that gets us the much-coveted crunch. Put all of the chicken back in (if it fits, there's no need to split this into batches), and fry for another 2.5-3 minutes, until they're golden brown.

Take the chicken out, and also reserve the oil for cooking with later. We'll use some of it in the next step.

We're going to cook the sauce first, and then toss in the fried chicken.

Turn the stove on high, and add oil (0.50 tbsp) to the wok. You can use the oil that you reserved from frying the chicken in the previous step. Add the thinly sliced orange peel and give it a quick stir.

Then, pour in the orange sauce. Let it come to a boil.

Meanwhile, begin garnishing the serving dish by arranging the orange slices in a tidy pattern around the outside edge of the plate.

Once the sauce has come to a boil, lower the heat and slowly drizzle in the cornstarch slurry. Be sure to stir constantly so that you don't end up with a big lump of cornstarch in your wok. Add more oil (1 tbsp).

If you want to cook off more of the water for a thicker sauce, keep the sauce cooking for a bit longer before adding the chicken.

When you're ready to add the chicken, turn the heat back up and add the chicken pieces back in. Toss the chicken around in the sauce for 15-20 seconds, and then turn off the heat. Drizzle oil (1 tsp) for added shine, mix quickly, and plate.