Recipe for Trader Joes Mandarin Orange Chicken?

[RobinW]

Thanks to all!

[RobinW]

OK, so i finally got around to trying this out and with a reference bag from a TJ:s pack (brought the sauce bags home from last trip to the US and threw out the chicken) I got pretty close. Next time is for the sons birthday so i hope I'll get even a bit closer still.

Anyway the youngest had 3 helpings and shone like the sun!

So, BIG THANKS to all for the help!

[ajrh]

Did you discover any improvements to the ingredient list or the web recipe we found? (I think my son might be a fan also...)

[RobinW]

Well, this may not be applicable to you since i basically use Swedish ingredients and not all are the same. My boy is 5 and not too fond of spices, mind you.

For the glaze i mainly went by the web recipe.
Next time i will (for the glaze):
- Back off a little on the chilli bean paste
- Exchange the mandarin peel zest and use fresh squeezed mandarin orange juice instead (we added juice this time to, but the bitterness of the zest came through a bit anyway)
- We used a bit more sugar (that may be from my miscalculating cups to deciliters and approximating though)
- We increased the amount of broth
- Maybe find a lighter soy sauce

I'll also use bigger chicken pieces, less batter and a wider pan (this was our first time ever deep frying anything, tells you a bit about Sweden, doesn't it?)

[RobinW]

OK, so i finetuned the recipe for the glaze while i had yesterdays version fresh in memory.
Compared to the web recipe found by ajrh above :
- No mandarine orange zest
- Add juice from 1 1/2 mandarine orange (wife squeezed so not until dry)
- Slightly less soy
- 1/2 of the chilli bean paste

I let the glace reduce a bit (not much simmered for like 15 minutes)

This brought us very close to the TJ:s version.


We had a bonus kid here today and all ate with good apetit. The connoiseur (my 5 year old) said this version was better than yesterdays.
Good luck!

[jigert]

I'll have to save this recipe for the future. Nowadays we pretty much eat vegetarian but I hope, when our small one grows up, the carnivores will outnumber the vegetarians
Thanks for this, Robin!

[RobinW]

Relatively cheap way to have Chinese in Sweden and i gotta admit. The home deepfry version is a lot better (albeit less good looking) than what we are used to.
I might actually try to make proper french fries one day...

Good luck on turning the girlfriend!

[RobinW]

Oh, while i remember, the recipe and TJ:s ingredient list calls for brown/thigh chicken meat. I tried this and breast and the thighs i feel were better.