We're putting the squeeze on weeknight flavour with this crisp, orange-hued chicken. It's a slightly sweeter citrussy spin on the Chinese takeaway classic of lemon chicken and, we can tell you, it's just as delicious (more, even). The secret to those perfectly browned bites is a fry-off with cornflour first, so pay attention to this step and if you don't have any in your pantry, just use plain flour.
Place rice and 310ml (1¼ cups) cold water in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes or until rice is tender and cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside to keep warm. While rice is cooking, continue with step 2.
Cut chicken into 3cm pieces and toss with cornflour, salt and pepper. Heat vegetable oil in a wok or large frypan over medium-high heat. Cook, turning chicken pieces, for 6–8 minutes or until golden and crisp all over. While chicken is cooking, continue with step 3.
Peel and crush garlic. Finely grate ginger. Finely zest and juice orange. Place garlic, orange zest and juice, sesame oil, sweet chilli sauce and soy in a small bowl and mix to combine.
Trim ends from gai lan and discard. Roughly chop gai lan stems and leaves into thirds. Thinly slice spring onion, keeping white and green parts separate.
Add white spring onion and gai lan to frypan and cook for 1 minute. Add orange chilli sauce and cook, stirring and turning chicken to coat in sauce, for 2–3 minutes.
In the last 1 minute of cooking, add sesame seeds to pan and toss to coat. Divide rice between bowls and top with Chinese orange chicken and green spring onion.