Images Dried Mandarin Orange Peels

Dried Mandarin Orange Peel

Save those mandarin orange peels!

Did you know that you can dry orange peels and use them for cooking later? It can be included into meat stews, hot soup desserts like red bean or barley soups, hot teas, used as seasoning and it can even be added into cakes. It doesn't just add flavour to cooking, it adds fragrance - it is this bit that gives recipes an extra edge.

I learned this from my aunt who's an ardent cook. It's pretty easy to do when you live in a country where it's summer all year round and it's sunny most times.

How-to:
1) Peel skin from mandarin orange.
2) Scrape the excess pith off the skin (not difficult because there isn't much).
3) Dry the orange peels out in the hot sun for a few days and that's it.

Dried and ready for use - Mandarin Orange Peels

I guess the same can be done with a regular orange but removing the pith may be a challenge for me since it has a thicker layer of white pith.

Of course I could peel it with a knife, slicing just beneath the skin. It helps to have a steady hand. Something I don't have..

Images Baked Mandarin Orange Chicken with Buttered Potatoes and Apples

Baked Mandarin Orange Chicken with Buttered Potatoes and Apples

Distributing mandarin oranges to friends and family during the Lunar New Year is an age-old practice for people with Chinese roots in my homeland. I received my fair share during the festive season. That said, this is a long overdue blog post, at least two months behind schedule!

Aaah..anyway, back to the oranges. I wish I could have eaten it all as is, peeled fresh and just out of the fridge, but there was more than this household could handle with two boxes in keeping. So, I did what I could to clear it off quicker - I decided to cook it. And this is really yummy stuff although it's a simple recipe! Then again, when it comes to food, I've rarely ever said yuck.

I didn't mess the flavour with too much seasoning. I felt the juice from the orange would be sufficient to pass for delicious and it did.

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken drumsticks
- 2 potatoes (sliced thin, not all the way through)
- 2 red apples (sliced)
- 2 medium red onions (quartered)
- 3 mandarin oranges (Peel skin off from the segments of two oranges. Squeeze the juice out from one)
- 1 tbsp salted butter (softened)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cooking oil

How-to:
1) Season chicken with a little bit of salt, pepper and some mandarin orange juice.

2) Place the chicken on a lightly oiled baking tray. Add onions, orange segments and the remainder of the orange juice to create the yummy gravy. Sprinkle on a wee bit of salt and pepper.

3) Spread butter onto apples and potatoes. Place in a separate baking tray (also lightly oiled).

4) Bake for about 45 minutes at 175C. Baking time differs. You're done once the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are tender.

I garnished mine with some chopped celery leaves.
 

In the oven - Chicken with mandarin oranges

Baked Chicken and Mandarin Oranges