Veal Sweetbreads in Chinese Orange Sauce

Bex Blundy

Servings

1

Prep Time

3 hours

Cook Time

20 minutes

Inspired by the famous Chinese takeaway dish 'orange chicken', these veal sweetbreads are deep-fried until crispy in a cornstarch coating. The sauce is fragrant with ginger, with floral orange notes and plenty of umami flavour from high quality soy sauce and fish sauce. Serve with a fresh garnish of spring onions and chilli, and serve with steamed rice.

Veal Sweetbreads in Chinese Orange Sauce

Ingredients

    For the sweetbreads

    • 250g veal sweetbreads
    • 1 pint of milk, to soak the sweetbreads
    • 20g plain flour
    • 30g cornflour
    • ½ teaspoon Chinese five spice
    • Salt and white pepper, to season the dredge
    • 500ml vegetable oil for deep-frying

    For the sauce

    • Juice of two oranges, zest of one orange
    • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon white sugar
    • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
    • ½ teaspoon Chinese 5 spice
    • 1 teaspoon mirin
    • 1 clove garlic, microplaned
    • 1 inch ginger, microplaned
    • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
    • 1 teaspoon fish sauce
    • 2 teaspoons cornstarch, stirred into 100ml water, to make a slurry to thicken the sauce
    • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

    To garnish

    • White sesame seeds, to garnish
    • Red chilli, sliced, to garnish
    • Spring onion, sliced, to garnish
    • Rice, to serve

    Directions

    1. Soak the sweetbreads: Soak the sweetbreads in milk for 3 hours

    2. Boil the sweetbreads: Boil the sweetbreads for 5 minutes in salted water

    3. Prepare the sweetbreads: Remove the membrane from the sweetbreads, it should pull away easily after boiling. Pull any tubes or sinew out of the sweetbreads. Cut into 7 or 8 chunks ready to deep-fry

    4. Deep-fry the sweetbreads: Heat oil to to 185°C. Toss the sweetbreads in the cornflour, flour, ½ teaspoon Chinese five spice, salt and white pepper. Deep-fry the sweetbreads for 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave them to the side whilst you prepare the sauce

    5. Make the sauce: Put all of the sauce ingredients into a frying pan or saucepan, apart from the sesame oil and the slurry mix. Whisk together, then heat over medium until bubbling. Then add in the cornstarch slurry and heat the sauce, stirring the whole time until very thick (around 2 minutes)

    6. Add the fried sweetbreads: Into the sauce. Toss to coat them. Now stir through the two tablespoons of toasted sesame oil and add in the sesame seeds

    7. Serve the sweetbreads: With the spring onion and red chilli garnishes, and steamed rice on the side

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