Mandarin Orange is my favorite among Citrus family and when two of my favorites: Chicken and Mandarin got together it turned out to be splendid!
One fruit which got along with me so well over the years is Mandarin orange. I often stack my pantry with canned mandarin oranges and I don’t seem to get over with its delicate and sweet flavor. My two favorite ways of enjoying them are by having them just like that and by garnishing them on fruit salads. Even without much transformation, it tastes so good and hence I never quite thought about making something else out of it. However, recently I was somehow hit by the idea of combining mandarin oranges with chicken. With chicken in my freezer and canned mandarin in the pantry, I thought I might as well experiment in my kitchen. As usual, I searched Google for some recipe ideas and stumbled into a quick and easy recipe at My recipes.com. My search came to an end and I tried it after making a few changes to the original recipe.
Since the mandarin oranges are mildly sweet, I made sure to add some spicy touch to the chicken with dry red chili and ground pepper which compensated the sweetness. The chicken tasted very delicious and I served it over salad greens.
Mandarin Chicken
Ingredients:
- Chicken, boneless, cubed or use fillet- 1 pound
- Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
- Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Mandarin orange, canned, drained- 1 can
- Olive oil- 1 tbsp
- Whole dry red chili- 2
- Ginger, minced- 1 tsp
- Garlic, minced- 1 tsp
- Green onions, chopped- 2 stalks
- Chicken stock, low sodium- 1/2 cup ( use chilled chicken stock)
- Soy sauce, low sodium- 2 tbsp
- Corn starch- 1/2 tbsp
Instruction
- Combine chicken along with ground pepper, ginger-garlic paste and salt.
- Cook the chicken in a saucepan after covering the pan with its lid.
- When the chicken turns tender and the water has dried up, remove from the heat.
- In a small bowl, combine chicken stock, soy sauce and corn starch. Dissolve the corn starch in the chilled chicken stock, keep aside.
- In the same sauce pan, add olive oil, put dry red chili, minced ginger and garlic into the oil, saute till it starts to turn light golden in color.
- Add the green onions and saute for a minute.
- Put the cooked chicken into the pan, stir fry it for a few minutes till it turns light golden brown in color.
- Add the mandarin orange and gently combine it to the chicken.
- Pour the chicken stock mixture and let the sauce start to thicken.
- You could have the orange mashed up or if you prefer to have it like segments, then avoid cooking it for too long.
- If you want you could add little more ground pepper.
- Serve this Mandarin chicken along with rice or on top of your favorite salad greens.
Tips:
- You could use the chicken fillet instead of diced chicken.
- Prepare the sauce separately and pour it over the cooked chicken fillet.
- Chicken, boneless, cubed or use fillet- 1 pound
- Ground pepper- ¼ tsp
- Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Mandarin orange, canned, drained- 1 can
- Olive oil- 1 tbsp
- Whole dry red chili- 2
- Ginger, minced- 1 tsp
- Garlic, minced- 1 tsp
- Green onions, chopped- 2 stalks
- Chicken stock, low sodium- ½ cup ( use chilled chicken stock)
- Soy sauce, low sodium- 2 tbsp
- Corn starch- ½ tbsp
- Combine chicken along with ground pepper, ginger-garlic paste and salt.
- Cook the chicken in a saucepan after covering the pan with its lid.
- When the chicken turns tender and the water has dried up, remove from the heat.
- In a small bowl, combine chicken stock, soy sauce and corn starch. Dissolve the corn starch in the chilled chicken stock, keep aside.
- In the same sauce pan, add olive oil, put dry red chili, minced ginger and garlic into the oil, saute till it starts to turn light golden in color.
- Add the green onions and saute for a minute.
- Put the cooked chicken into the pan, stir fry it for a few minutes till it turns light golden brown in color.
- Add the mandarin orange and gently combine it to the chicken.
- Pour the chicken stock mixture and let the sauce start to thicken.
- You could have the orange mashed up or if you prefer to have it like segments, then avoid cooking it for too long.
- If you want you could add little more ground pepper.
- Serve this Mandarin chicken along with rice or on top of your favorite salad greens.
Prepare the sauce separately and pour it over the cooked chicken fillet.
