Margarita's International Recipes
Tangerine Peel Chicken
I've enjoyed mandarin chicken at different Chinese restaurants (and Panda Express, I'm sad to say) so I was excited to make this version. Still, I wanted to make it child-friendly (i.e. not spicy) so my kids would eat it. The results were rather disappointing. The chicken was very dry (probably my fault, as I used chicken breasts) and very mildly flavored, though a bit too salty. I imagine the peppers would have made up for that. Needless to say, I wouldn't make it again.
Other than eliminating the spice (which I'm putting in this recipe as "optional") my only change was to double the recipe. I shouldn't have done that, as now we have tons of leftovers (which I'm planning to use in chicken quesadillas). The recipe below is the original recipe, not doubled.
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Tangerine Peel Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 slices fresh ginger, peeled
- 1 scallion, sliced
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. rice wine
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, divided
- 1 lb. skinless/boneless chicken, cut in bite size bits
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
- 1 tsp. dried tangerine peel
- 3-4 dried chilis (optional)
- 1/2 tsp. Sichuan pepper (optional)
- oil for deep frying
- 1/2 tsp. sesame seed oil
Instructions
Crush the ginger and scallion together in a large bowl. Add the rice wine, salt and 1 Tbsp. rice wine. Mix well. Add the chicken, mix so all the chicken is covered and marinate for at least 1/2 hour.
Meanwhile whisk together 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, the sugar and rice vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat the frying oil in a wok or deep frying pan. Add the chicken and deep fry over high heat until cooked through and golden. Remove chicken from the oil with a slotted spoon and set aside. Discard most of the oil, leaving 2 Tbsp. on the wok. Re-heat the oil over medium heat and add the tangerine peel and the chilis and Sichuan pepper, if using. Cook for a minute. Mix in the chicken. Add the soy sauce/vinegar combination, blend well and serve.
Adapted from Deh-Ta Hsiung's Chinese Regional Cooking.
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