Orange Rice with Chicken in Orange Sauce

I have always liked Henna on the hands of brides from the north of Nigeria. While I will not likely have a permanent body design I will certainly have those one or two weeks life span ones done. Whilst shooting a northern television commercial last week, I took the opportunity of the Henna designers on set to get a little one done for me on my left hand. Yes I got quite some stares and lots of compliments too.

On another beauty note, I started my planks again after months of not tensioning my stomach muscles. Really the body is like a machine, if you don’t keep it running and working hard it suddenly starts to slow down and malfunction.  I am feeling the pain around my tummy area but feeling so good about this. I like to tuck in my blouses and not have to hold in my tummy throughout the day.

Switching gears to today’s recipe, I took a look at our repertoire of rice dishes and believe that we can still do with more variety particularly that the ingredients I have chosen are locally available. Popular Rice recipes in Nigeria are Jollof rice, Fried rice, Coconut rice, Banga rice, Iwuk Edesi and so on.

Today’s recipe uses fresh Orange juice to cook the rice. The result is a sweet and savory rice dish that will get you going back for second helpings. In actual fact I am giving two recipes here for the price of one, the Orange rice and the Chicken in Orange Sauce. Enjoy the Life.

Recipe for Chicken in Orange Sauce(serves 4)

Ingredients

11/2 cups rice

2 cups freshly squeezed Orange juice

2 tablespoons strips of Orange rind (the yellow skin without the white pulp)

1tablespoon salted Butter

1/2 cup chopped Sausages

1/4 cup diced red Bell Pepper

1/4 cup yellow Bell Pepper

1 or 2 pieces Scotch Bonnet peppers

1/4 cup Green Peas

Chicken Seasoning cube to taste

Salt to taste

 

Method

1. Wash the rice to remove surface starch and pour into a strainer to drain out water
2. Squeeze the orange juice with the pulp and set aside
3. Peel the rind from some of the oranges. Be sure not to get too much of the white pulp in the rind. This is what makes the rind bitter, and you don’t want this taste in the rice.
4. Heat the butter until melted and hot. Add a cube of seasoning and very little salt, scotch bonnet pepper, some of the orange rind, add the rice and using a wooden spoon fry the rice in the butter till crispy and translucent. You have to stir frequently whilst the rice is frying so it does not burn at the base
5. Add the orange juice, and sausages, taste for seasoning, lower the heat and cook till soft
6. When rice is almost cooked, add the green peas
7. Add the bell peppers and the remaining orange rind and cook for about 2 minutes.
8. Serve rice with the chicken in orange sauce or

Recipe for Chicken in Orange Sauce 

Ingredients

4 Chicken thigh (broiler)

1 cup orange juice

1 whole orange

2 cloves Garlic

1 piece fresh pepper

Chicken seasoning to taste

1 teaspoon dry Ginger

2 cooking spoons Oil for browning chicken

1 teaspoon corn flour

Salt to taste

 

 

Method

1. Season chicken with salt, ginger, crushed garlic, chicken seasoning and set aside for about 30 minutes
2. Heat the oil and brown the chicken pieces on both sides. The chicken used should be the soft type. Add the pepper and orange slices and fry.
3. Add the orange juice, correct seasoning, lower the heat and cook till chicken is soft.
4. Dissolve the corn starch in water and quickly stirring into the liquid in the chicken. You may wish to add a little water to lighten the sauce if too thick.
5. Cook the sauce for about 3 minutes and serve with the rice. You can also use this sauce for plain boiled rice.

Cooking Tip: If the orange juice does not cook the rice , you may wish to use ordinary water .