Orange Joy Chicken

There is something about oranges that brightens your mood. The scent alone seems to energize you and hover about the room.

I am in general a fan of citrus since I feel it wakes up the palate, and gives your mouth joy, but when combined with ingredients that harmonize well with it rather than overpower it, I like it even better. I particularly like the combo of orange with chicken, when you want a change from a simple roasted chicken to something a bit lighter and livelier.

One of the things I like about this recipe is that it adapts to both pargiyot, (skinned and boneless chicken thighs), and chicken bottoms (thigh and drumstick) as well as chicken wings. This can work with chicken breasts, just have to keep an eye on them so they don’t dry out.

For this it is definitely preferable to use a whole orange rather than orange juice, though you can use it in a pinch. The point of the whole orange is that you use the zest as well as the juice and this adds a wallop of flavor that ups your game.

You start with chicken thighs which you clean and pat dry. Set aside.

Take a nice firm large orange and btw, when buying your oranges, take a sniff, don’t be embarrassed. It should have a good citrusy scent. Scrub and pat dry and take out your microplane (or grater) and grate the peel of the orange with none of the bitter white pith.

As you can see above, you are only using the orange part of the orange. Hmm, seems obvious, no? but no. 🙂 . Then cut the orange in half and juice both halves.

This comes to approximately 1/3 of a cup. Put the zest and the juice into a bowl. Then add honey and sweet chili sauce, about 1/3 of a cup.

Add in crushed garlic and soy sauce and stir, stir, stir till fully combined.

Makes ya wanna dive in head first, no?

Now take your chicken thighs and souse them thoroughly with the sauce.

As best you can, scoop up sauce that runs down and brush back on chix. Put the chix into a 375 F/190 C degree preheated oven, and roast for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, (it’s good if you baste them at least once with the sauce), or till nicely browned and when poked with a toothpick the juices run yellowish clear not pink.

Every bite is a joy to eat!

Orange Joy Chicken

8 chicken thighs, cleaned and patted dry

zest and juice of one orange, about 1/3 cup (80 ml) juice

2 tablespoons runny honey

1/3 cup (80 ml) sweet chili sauce

2 teaspoons crushed garlic

1/4 cup (60 ml) soy sauce

Optional: Add 5 peeled carrots which you slice lengthwise in half and into about 4 pieces each on a diagonal

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F/190 C degrees.

Take a baking pan and spray with oil spray and place the chicken thighs into it. Take the orange and scrub and pat dry and microplane or grate the entire peel but don’t grate the white pith with it since it’s bitter. Put into a bowl. Slice the orange in half and juice both halves, put into bowl with grated peel, add the honey. Add the sweet chili sauce, crushed garlic and soy sauce and mix thoroughly together till fully combined.

Brush all over the chicken and put in hot oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, baste at least once, or until the chicken is golden brown and poked with a toothpick the juices run a yellowish clear color, not pink. It should be a joyful eating experience!