Nana’s Kitchen: Curried Orange Chicken

Nana’s Kitchen: Curried Orange Chicken

Greetings, home cooks, welcome to Nana’s Kitchen,

I love Ohio. One day a “do not burn” warning is out the next pouring rain. The temperature drops from 60 degrees to 30 in an hour or so. Just keeps us on our toes, I guess. Not to mention some flooding issues. We will endeavor to persevere. 

While all of this is going on the recipes are laid out for review. The simple recipes can be just as tasty as more complex dishes. One in particular is a sauce for the humble chicken. Four ingredients make our sauce. Orange marmalade and curry powder are the stars.

Marmalade probably is in your cupboard or refrigerator now. Orange marmalade seems to be the best known. Marmalade is made by boiling together sugar, water, citrus juice, and citrus peel. Besides oranges other citrus may be used including lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, bergamots, or other citrus or a combination. (Bergamot is a type of orange that gives Earl Grey tea its unique flavor). 

Marmalade is different from jam in the cooking method. Jams use less water to prepare. A large amount of water is used for marmalade with the extra liquid being set by the high content of pectin in the fruit.

Jelly is different in that it is made with the fruit pulp and peel which is strained out, leaving a clear product. The peel and pulp of marmalade is left in the end product.

Marmalade has been around since the Romans learned from the Greeks that quinces slowly cooked with honey would ‘set’ when cool. Marmalade has been around a while.

Curry powder is a spice mix of turmeric, cumin, ginger, and black pepper. Some blends have garlic and cinnamon. It originated from the Indian subcontinent. There are many varieties of curry. 

Curried Orange Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken- whole chicken cut up, chicken breasts, or chicken thighs. With or without the skin. With or without the bone.
1 cup orange marmalade(use your favorite brand)
1 tablespoon curry powder or red curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place your chicken in a 13×9 pan or appropriate pan to the amount of chicken you are preparing. 
Mix the marmalade, curry powder, salt and water in a bowl.
Pour over chicken.
Bake until chicken is cooked through, basting the chicken a few times in the process.
A whole cut up chicken will take at least 45 to 60 minutes.
If the sauce is sticking to the pan add a quarter cup of water to loosen as needed.
Remove from oven and serve hot.
Enjoy!

Hints:
I used two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and baked for 50 minutes as they were thick.
Chicken should be cooked to 165 – 170 degrees or until the juices run clear, there should be no blood.
A digital thermometer is a good investment and they are are not expensive.
The sauce thickens when it is cooked and tastes good on buttered noodles or rice.
The sauce recipe can be doubled as needed. 
If the skin is left on, it glazes well.
If using skin on chicken, pour the sauce into a dish to skim off the excess fat after removal from the oven before serving. 
An easy way to spruce up your chicken.
The sauce is gluten free. 
I had red curry powder and used it. It has red pepper, chili pepper and jalapeño pepper, and garlic as well as other spices. A little more kick than regular curry powder. But in this recipe the amount used does not make the spice taste excessive. 
Experiment and see which you like best. 

Have blessed Sunday.