Rice Queen Makes Vegan Orange Chicken

During the college years, Laura and I used to always go to Rice King and order the same thing. I'd order broccoli and beef and she'd get orange chicken and we'd share.

I still love broccoli, but the beef ... not so much.

The orange chicken came with big chunks of bell pepper and carrot. So, when I looked in the fridge tonight and saw those two veggies, I could almost taste our old Rice King favorite.

I decided to try and make it with tempeh instead of chicken. I found a recipe online and changed it up based on what I had on hand and it was pretty scrumptious.

Here's how I did it:

Vegan Orange Chicken
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 clove garlic, minced
1 package (10 ounces) of tempeh
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
chopped green onion for garnish

Mix the orange juice, soy sauce, maple syrup, ground coriander, and garlic and set aside.

Chop the tempeh and veggies into bite-sized pieces and stir fry until golden.

Pour in the sauce mixture and simmer until it reduces to a thick glaze.

Serve over brown rice.

Szechuan gone wrong...
This was my second attempt at a new Asian recipe this week and this one went much better than the last. A few nights ago, I tried to make a szechuan dish with some leftover eggplant. I came across a recipe that sounded really good and I had most of the ingredients. I made a few substitutions including using sriracha instead of chili paste, which is apparently a lot hotter.

It looked delicious, and was kind of tasty, but my mouth was on fire! Lesson learned.

Have you ever substituted an ingredient with disastrous results?