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

Images Mango Chicken

This is probably the yummiest dish I've ever made and I say this only because it is hard for me to resist the charm of the mango. Don't you just love 'em? I can understand people avoiding the Durian or Tarap but I'm pretty sure the mango is welcome in most homes!

When cooking with mangoes, I opt for simplicity. The mango provides a natural flavour that is so delicious that I try not to mess it up with too much seasoning. A pinch of salt and pepper is as far as I go.

Here's how I did this.

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken leg quarters
- 1 large sweet mango (diced, seeded)
- 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
- ½ tsp meat curry powder
- 1 bunch asparagus (about 20-30 spears)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- Salt and pepper

How-to:
1) Marinate chicken with curry powder, salt and pepper. Bake at 180c for 45 minutes in the oven. Do not throw the chicken juice away.

2) Stir-fry asparagus in cooking oil with a bit of garlic and a pinch of salt. Leave aside.

3) To make the mango sauce - Pour chicken juice into pan. Stir-fry that with the remainder of the garlic. Add the mango. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until the mango is slightly tender and starts to look like gravy.

4) Finally, assemble cooked asparagus on a plate. Lay the chicken on top and pour the gravy over. Voila!

Baked curried chicken

Assemble on plate - first asparagus, then the chicken, finally the sauce

Diced mango

Chicken juice, garlic and mango - the gravy

Images Turmeric Roast Chicken

Not overthinking things opens opportunities for creativity. Coming up with new recipes is about exploring beyond our comfort zone. Sometimes it turns out extremely well, sometimes it's just so-so but at the end of the day, it still boils down to personal taste.

Perhaps it was the sun that inspired me that day but there was this great desire to roast chicken with a deep yellow colour. The only ingredient I could think of to achieve this goal was "turmeric". Ooo..nothing else? Yellow curry powder, perhaps!

I went with turmeric and so was born my version of Turmeric Roast Chicken ♥

Mmm..mmm..it does look good! Tastes just okay being mildly spicy and sweet-saltish like but not quite what I had in "mind". I had imagined a more robust flavour so I guess I'll be playing around with how I season this the next time I attempt this recipe.

Turmeric Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Onions at the sides

Ingredients:
For the paste : 1½ tsp turmeric powder, 2 medium onions and 2 garlic cloves roughly chopped, bit ginger, 2 red chillies (seeded)  - blend all together with just enough water into a medium thick paste.

For the seasoning, this would be up to you because I'm still working on it. I've got salt, sour plum juice mixed into the paste and then, a bit of honey which I brushed on at the end of baking time.

How-to:
1) Place the chicken, whole, onto a baking tray. Rub some of the paste all over the chicken.

2) Pour the remainder of the paste onto the chicken and bake this in a pre-heated oven at 190C for 1-2hours (depending on the size of the chicken).

The chicken was basted a couple of times in between because I was excited about keeping the colour intact.

I also brushed some honey onto the chicken in the last 5-10 minutes of baking time, keeping close watch to ensure it doesn't burn. I know what honey does! I could not resist doing this because I really wanted a little "sweet" to top it off.

Turmeric Roast Chicken - In progress

Well, that's that. It's back to the drawing board for me. Happy experimenting!