Last week’s recipes were requested by a blog follower and fellow church cook.  We served 375 people with Orange Chicken with an Asian vegetable blend, Oriental Coleslaw with Ramen Noodles, the weekly salad bar, and Mandarin Orange Cake for dessert. I’ll start with dessert first, because life’s too short not to…

Mandarin Orange Cake

Serves 40 in 12x20x2 inch cake pan, cut 8×5.

Make 14 times for 540 pieces (total ingredients needed is in parentheses)

FOR THE CAKE:

This recipe makes one 12x20x2 inch pan or two 9×11 inch pans

2 boxes (18.25 Oz. Box) Yellow Cake Mix, any brand will do (28 boxes total)

8 oz Margarine, Softened  (7#)

28 oz Mandarin Oranges, drained, 1 Cup Juice Reserved (4 #10 cans)

8 whole Eggs  (9 dozen plus 4)

2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

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FOR THE TOPPING:

8 oz Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix  (4 28oz packages)

40 oz Crushed Pineapple, Juice Reserved  (6 #10 cans)

1 cups Powdered Sugar  (14 cups)

8 ounces, fluid Frozen Whipped Topping (such As Cool Whip) (7 16oz containers)

Extra Mandarin Orange Slices, For Garnish

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the cake, combine cake mix, margarine, 1 cup juice from the mandarin oranges, eggs, and vanilla. Beat for four minutes on medium-high. Add drained oranges and beat again until pieces are broken up and small. Pour batter into greased and floured 12x20x2 inch baking pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown and set. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Once cake is cool, blend juice from drained pineapples with the vanilla pudding mix. Add powdered sugar and mix, then mix in whipped topping. Stir in drained pineapple. Spread on cooled cake and refrigerate several hours.

To serve, cut cake into squares and top each square with a mandarin orange slice.

Crispy Orange Chicken

 450 servings 

Mix the following ingredients in large pots, bring to simmer:

3 gallons orange juice

24 cups brown sugar

9 cups orange marmalade (about 72 ounces)

6 cups soy sauce

½ cup parsley

4 Tbsp chili flakes

4 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp dried thyme

Mix 3 cups cornstarch with 3 cups cold water.  Add to sauce and whisk.  Simmer until thick.  Remove from heat and add:

3 cups rice vinegar.

130 # tempura breaded frozen chicken breast nuggets or strips, cooked in oven at 350* for 20-30 minutes until 165* and lightly browned.  Toss chicken with orange sauce. Keep warm until served, and if the crust becomes a little soggy, as ours did after sitting in the warming oven over 45 minutes, return to 350* oven for 5-10 minutes to crisp up again.

Serve with rice if desired and mixed vegetables. For 450 servings, we used three 30# cases frozen Sysco Stir fry Vegetable Blend, quickly cooked in boiling water. Have extra orange sauce and soy sauce available on the serving table for the rice and vegetables.

Oriental Coleslaw

12 servings

Mix together just before serving so noodles don’t get soggy:

16 oz  pre-shredded coleslaw mix

4 green onions, thinly sliced (about ½ cup)

1 3 oz pkg chicken or oriental flavored Ramen noodles, broken up

½ cup slivered almonds, toasted

½ cup sunflower kernels

Whisk dressing ingredients together:

½ cup vegetable oil

¼  cup vinegar

1 TBSP sugar

1/8 tsp pepper

Flavor packet from Top Ramen noodles

400 Servings:

30# coleslaw mix

16 cups green onions

33 pkgs ramen noodles

16 cups slivered almonds

16 cups sunflower kernels

16 cups vegetable oil

8 cups vinegar

1 cup sugar

4 TBSP pepper

33 flavor pkts from noodles