Since we still haven't yet had the Lantern Festival, I've been craving the tastes of China and Taiwan which my partner cooks always (it is his food culture) but tonight is my night to cook and I know this is a totally Americanized dish, but I've been listening to Code Switch and they claim that it is completely authentic to adapt to new flavors from a Chinese lens, so I'm going with it.

Materials.

• 1 package Morningstar branded Ckn Nuggets (already breaded and fried; $4.49)
• dehydrated citrus peel that originally weighed 8 ounces before dehydration
• 3 TBSP corn starch
• 1 cup orange juice {I make mine from FrOJ/frozen concentrate to be #frugal, but you can always do the super juice thing and get enough from a single orange}
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp Sriracha [substitute any other chili paste]
• 2 TBSP rice vinegar [substitute white vinegar]
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 TBSP ginger [substitute 1/4 tsp powdered ginger spice]
• 1 TBSP molasses [substitute 1 TBSP dark Karo syrup]
  .
  .
• oven
• baking sheet
• a small bowl
• saucepan
• whisk
• garlic press [substitute a microplane or the technique for mincing with a knife]
• kitchen timer

Method.

1. Cook the Morningstar nuggets (1 pkg) according to their package directions. While they are cooking in the oven ...
2. Take a small bowl and whisk together the corn starch (3 TBSP), orange juice (1 cup), dehydrated citrus peel (orig. weight 8 oz), sugar (1/2 cup), soy sauce (1/4 cup), Sriracha (1/2 tsp), and rice vinegar (2 TBSP).
3. Take the saucepan and heat it over medium heat. {read here about what to do if it is stainless steel}
4. Add your vegetable oil (1 TBSP) and let the oil heat to shimmering without smoking.
5. Peel and press the ginger (1 TBSP) and garlic (2 cloves) through the garlic press directly into the saucepan and sauté them using the whisk for 2 minutes.
6. Add the mixture from the small bowl and mix well. Cook it until the corn starch is activated and the sauce starts to thicken (several minutes).
7. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the molasses (1 TBSP) and whisk well.
8. Remove the cooked nuggets from the oven and coat with sauce. Warm sauce sticks to nuggets more readily than cold sauce does, so even if you are cooking these at separate times, warm up the sauce when it is coating time. Coat right before serving as this dish does not keep well in a coated state.

Bon appetit!

NOTES

Serving suggestion. Serve it on steamed or cooked rice with a side helping of traditional Chinese music.

Bibliography. The base for my adaptation started with this great Orange Veg Chick'n recipe. All tweaks that came after were entirely mine and of my own experimentation.