Orange Chik'n with Kale and Brown Rice

I like Gardein products, so I was thrilled when I found their Crispy Chik'n at Whole Foods. I'd never seen that one before, AND they were on sale, so I stocked up! The Crispy Chik'n comes with a mandarin orange sauce, but I made my own sauce since I had oranges that needed to be used.

The recipe comes from 101 Cookbooks. The recipe is for orange pan glazed tempeh, though I made this sauce with tofu before and fell in love. It's easy to make and delicious (and probably much healthier than Chinese take out!).

The recipe below is the one from 101 Cookbooks, but since I never make anything exactly as the recipe says I thought I should make some notes. I didn't have tamari or soy sauce, so I used Bragg Liquid Aminos (another soy based sauce that is lower in sodium). I didn't have lime, so I used lemon. And I didn't have any cilantro (or ANY fresh herbs) so I used some dried parsley. I also didn't have maple syrup, so I used honey. Personally, I think some green onions would have been nice on here. Oh, and definitely scoop some sauce onto the brown rice. I can't get enough of it!! Another thing... I chopped up the ginger and just tossed it all in instead of squeezing the juice out.

Orange Sauce
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (3-4 large juicy oranges)
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons tamari (or soy sauce)
1 1/2 tablespoons mirin
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 small garlic cloves, crushed
roughly 10 ounces of tempeh (or extra-firm tofu)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 lime
a handful of cilantro (coriander) leaves

Put the orange juice in a small bowl. Squeeze the grated ginger over the bowl to extract the juices, then discard the pulp. Add the tamari, mirin, and maple syrup, ground coriander, and garlic. Mix together and set aside.

After you cook your tempeh, tofu, or in this case crispy chik'n, remove the protein from the pan and add the orange sauce mixture and simmer for about 10 minutes. You want to get it to reduce to a glaze. Once I noticed that the bottom of the sauce was thickening, I added the chik'n and that helped it glaze up nicely. Just thinking about it is making me crave it! It's absolutely delicious, and you'll be surprised to find just how easy it is!