Orange Chicken Stir-fry

Recently, I've been eating a lot of beef, mostly steak. I took that into account this past weekend when planning my dinner and decided that I would aim for a simple chicken dish. Since I hadn't yet delved into Asian cuisine, stir-fry seemed a logical choice.

Ingredients:
6 Thin-cut Chicken Breasts
1 Medium-sized Onion
1 Bell Pepper (I actually chose half green and half red for visual appeal)
1 Large Orange
1 Glass (about 8 ounces) of Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 Cup Salsa (strange, I know, but stick with me for now)
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
White Rice


Steps/Analysis:
Cut the chicken breasts into roughly bite-size pieces. Chop onion and pepper into similar size strips. Cook in a large pan with enough oil to coat the bottom over medium-high heat. Once the chicken is cooked through the center (do yourself a favor and cut the largest one you can find open to check, don't guess) remove from pan and cover with foil to keep warm.


In a bowl, combine orange juice, vinegar, salsa, soy sauce, brown sugar, and corn starch. Pour sauce into the same pan, stirring to loosen up any bits and pieces that may have stuck to the bottom. Heat the sauce until it becomes slightly thickened.


At this point, depending on the brand and amount you are cooking, it's probably a good idea to start boiling up your rice. In my case, the rice only took 8-10 minutes once the water came to a boil so this is when I started it.


Peel and chop your orange into bite-size pieces.

Return chicken, onions, peppers and orange pieces, to the now thickened sauce, stirring to coat.


Serving:
Just bring the entire pan to the table with a wide spoon for serving. I put the rice in a separate bowl so that people could plate that up first and pour the chicken and sauce over it.



Notes:
The online stir-fry recipes that I used for reference called for pineapple chunks/juice and tomato sauce instead of orange chunks/juice and salsa. Since I already had all the other ingredients in my house, I took some liberties and made those changes. The result was tasty, but very acidy. Someone with a sensitive stomach or heartburn issues may have trouble with this dinner. In the future, I would try to find something a little basic to even out the sauce's pH a little.

Also, I used a dash of hot sauce on my own plate. Obviously, you should season to taste.