Saturday, June 17, 2006

Orange Chicken for a Lazy Day


Orange Chicken for a Lazy Day

This is something I whipped up today.

I’ve been feeling lazy all day, with the depressing rain outside and all. I didn’t feel like cooking something elaborate, following the recipe precisely, step-by-step. So I just went through several orange chicken and sherry chicken recipes to get some basic ideas, and when cooking, I didn’t measure any of the ingredients with a measuring cup or measuring spoons.



What were the ingredients for this orange chicken? A chicken breast, salt & pepper, dry sherry, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, a dash of lemon, whole-grain mustard, parsley from my balcony garden, and one more thing. To give an orange flavor to the chicken, I used something in place of orange marmalade. Can you guess what it was?

While making this dish, I kept telling myself, “These ingredients are all edible, so it’s not gonna kill me no matter how I mix them.” When I’m really lazy, this is often the bottom line of my cooking. :P

To my surprise, this orange chicken was not bad. Maybe a little too sweet, but not bad at all.

Now I'm feeling lazy to do the dishes...

* OK. Now, here's the answer: I used mom's burnt orange jam for this orange chicken.
Thanks for guessing! :D


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10 comments:

boo_licious said...

The chicken looks good. I don't think I have eaten orange chicken for a few yrs, it was one of my fav dishes when I was a kid. Do cheer up, I know the weather is bad but it's the weekend!

Anonymous said...

You used orange juice? Shiranai :P

Anonymous said...

Oh, obachan, I was really turned off by the first picture until I read your headline. I'm glad it turned out relatively tasty, 'though. :)

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

That looks fine! Like you I like experiencing with what's in my cupboards...

obachan said...

boo_licious
Oh, thank you! That’s true. It’s the weekend. Why should I let the rain spoil my weekend? ;)

anonymous commenter
Good guess, but it was not orange juice.

ghanima
Turned off? You were turned off by the picture? How come?? Is that picture that awful?

rosa
Yeah, isn’t that something many of us do once in a while? ;) I think it’s a good practice to improve our flexibility and creativity -- or survival strategy -- whatever you call it.

FooDcrazEE said...

i last did the chicken with mango not orange in 96. Wow ! thats 10 yrs ago and u reminded me of that...

Anonymous said...

It's nice to have those recipes we just stick to when we feel lazy... comfort food we can fall back on.

Anonymous said...

YOU USED THE KONATSU FROM YOUR FATHER'S ORCHARD?

JUNE

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, obachan, I didn't mean it's a bad picture; it's just that it's such a tight close-up that I couldn't identify the chicken. All I really got the sense of was that there was a mass of white lumps that was covered in a dark-speckled orange gel. I just don't find dark-speckled orange gel covering nondescript white lumps appetizing, I guess. :)

I didn't mean any offense. Gomen.

obachan said...

foodcrazee
Mango chicken! Sounds yummy. That’s something I should try someday. BTW, now some people grow mangos in the southern part of Japan, even in Kochi, too, but our locally grown mangos are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo expensive!! :O

CG
THAT’S RIGHT!! :D
The slight bitterness of the jam didn’t matter at all when used this way.

lpc
Thanks for your comment. Yep, I certainly agree. : )

june
Good guess, but I used up dad’s konatsu oranges when I made the jelly.
Thanks for guessing, though.

ghanima
Yeah, now you said that, they do look like white lumps covered in an orange gel:D No, I didn’t feel offended, so don’t worry about it. I was just wondering if that picture happened to remind some people of something grotesque … :P