Orange Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Ginger Honey Yogurt Dressing

[JoshBenske]

Here is a recipe I devised for some party snacks. It is Orange Chicken lettuce wraps with a Dressing of Ginger, Honey, Yogurt, and some other ingredients. Here is how I made it:

Dressing:

Blend Olive Oil and Rice Wine Vinager. Add salt, pepper, and a little bit of Spiracha ( Red chili paste) hot sauce, or some red pepper flakes. Grate about 2 teaspoons of Ginger and add along with yogurt, and Splenda ( Or sugar, I was cooking in mind that there was a diabetic at the party) . Refrigerate in a tupperwear, once ready to serve, shake the tupperware to insure everything is mixed together well.

Mix your preffered Tempura batter, and cube chicken breast's into a medium dice ( About 1/2"x1/2") Then coat with batter, and fry in Peanut oil at about 375-380, for about 15-18 minutes each batch or until cooked through.

Fine Julienne 1 Onion and 2 Red Bell peppers, and finely mince 2 cloves of garlic and about a teaspoon of ginger. Heat EVOO in the wok, and cook the Red Peppers and Onions. Once translucent, add the Chicken, Ginger and Garlic. Add about a cup of sugar ( Or substitute) and mix into the chicken and vegtables, then add about 1 1/2 cups of orange juice ( fresh or from the carton), a Tablespoon of orange zest a little bit of Rice wine vinager, and soy sauce, for flavor. Mix a slurry of Cornstarch and Water to add to the sauce and thicken as you like. Pour into a bowl alongside fresh lettuce and place the Dressing in a bowl with the Chicken, so people can make their own wraps. Garnish with sesame seeds and Green Onion's.

This is REALLY Good, and went over very well, Everyone loved it.

 

[PA Baker]

These sound very good, Josh. Thanks for sharing!

 

[mish]

Looks and sounds terrif, Josh.

Question about Tempura batter - I've tried it in the past and it just seems to fall apart. I don't have a deep fryer, and noticed you didn't use one either. Will it hold up? Any tempura tips? TIA

 

[JoshBenske]

Here is the batter recipe I used

1 Egg
1 Cup of Ice Water
1 Cup of Flour

Beat the egg, slowly add the ice water ( Make sure you use ice water) and then slowly beat in the flour, and dont over mix.

I did not dust the chicken with flour or cornstarch before I dipped them in the batter but I think that either one would help the batter adhere much better, but I did not have any issues.

I place all the chicken into the batter, and then I pull out batches at a time while frying. I like to use a large tall Stock pot or something similar, this keeps most of the oil from splashing over the sides of the pan and gives you some depth to submerge the chicken in while flying. Make sure the chicken is coated lightly with batter, then fry. Make sure not to over crowd the pan as well. Use a metal strainer ( Chinese strainer works perfect) to remove them and to move around while cooking, and to remove excess tempura that dripped into the oil.

Lay out the tempura fried chicken onto some paper plates, ontop of paper towls, and with a paper towl on top, this will absorb a lot of the oil. Then follow the rest of the recipe as it goes-

Good Luck.

Thanks
Josh

 

[Alix]

My batter is like Josh's except I use ice cold beer. LOL insert Canadian joke here...

I don't submerge my chicken though, just use my CI frying pan and gently flip them. CI pan is deep enough and I put a splatter screen over it to keep the mess down.

 

[mish]

Thank you Alix and Josh. I bought the boxed tempura batter, and who knew it would be this easy to make at home. I'm hoping it won't fall apart, as I would like to use the tempura batter on some Japanese dishes, yams, broc, cauliflower etc., as well. Again, thank you for your terrific recipes here, Josh. Keep em coming.

Alix, I will have to try the cold beer. No wonder - I didn't use a CI pan. Mine looked more like a CSI pan because I made it in a skillet. Thank you for the tip.

 

[Alix]

CSI pan...well...if it comes with Grissom that might be OK!

 

[kadesma]

Looks and sounds terrif, Josh.

Question about Tempura batter - I've tried it in the past and it just seems to fall apart. I don't have a deep fryer, and noticed you didn't use one either. Will it hold up? Any tempura tips? TIA

Mish, I also use the boxed tempura batter. I make a chile rellano type thing for the kids on sundays and I don't deep fry!!! I cut and halve my long green or pablano chiles, seed them, then dry on a clean towel and dip into the tempura batter, place on a pammed cookie sheet, and top each chile with some pepper jack chees, pop in oven, and bake til golden and cheese is all melted, you will have to use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut them apart, but, they are so good like this and not all that grease and mess from frying...The first time I had no idea if it would work or what it would taste like, but it turned out great...My kids love em like this...I would think other things could be done like this as well.
kadesma

 

[mish]

Thanks kads. The baking would be easier for me. Maybe I could try Brian's recipe in the oven too? Didn't mean to stray off your recipe Brian. Was hoping to get the tempura batter just right, as I've been unsuccessful in the past, then I can try yours. Thanks for all the suggestions & your recipe too kads.