Orange and Onion Caramelised Chicken Wings

Onions again? Yep, another dish laden with onions. Small onions, or shallots if you prefer, this time.

Orange and Onion Caramelised Chicken Wings

The internet is a really convenient way to find recipes, so much that it seems unnecessary to actually buy the books. I'm not moved by convenience, however. I really like my books! And if I have to flip countless pages just to find the perfect chicken recipe, I would and I did!

That's how I landed myself on Page 55 of Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape - Southeast Asia. It was a recipe for Orange and Ginger Caramelised Chicken Wings but I've tweaked it a little. Well, more than a little. I used brown sugar instead of white, added ground nutmeg, grated the ginger and increased the portion of some ingredients. I also did not sear the chicken on a pan in oil. Instead I chose to bake it before and after.

Orange and Onion Caramelised Chicken Wings
Ingredients:
- 800g chicken wings (6 pieces)
- 10 small onions (sliced)
- 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 3 stalks lemongrass (smashed)
- ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¾ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ cup water
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Cooking oil
- Flat leaf parsley for garnishing

How-to:
1) Season chicken wings with salt, black pepper and ground nutmeg for at least 30 minutes.
2) Arrange the wings in a layer on a baking tin. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 170C.
3) Heat oil in pan.
4) Add onions, garlic, ginger and lemongrass. Stir for a couple of minutes on high heat.
5) Add fish sauce and sugar. Mix well.
6) Add orange juice and water. Stir until it has thickened a little, into a nice looking sauce. Switch the heat off and leave aside.
7) Remove chicken from oven. Spread the orange and onion sauce over the half-cooked chicken wings.
8) Continue baking for 45 minutes at 170C or until chickens are cooked and the onions are golden brown. Baste once in between.
9) Garnish with flat leaf parsley!

From Top-Left, clockwise : Season chicken wings, Gather and prepare ingredients,
Arrange wings in a layer, Bake in pre-heated oven. 

From Top-Left, clockwise : Lightly fry the ingredients, Add the sugar in,
Stir well, Leave aside for the next step, Take wings out from oven,
Spread onion and orange sauce over wings and continue baking.

Fresh out of the oven!

This is best enjoyed with rice.

Adding the garnish

Orange and Onion Caramelised Chicken Wing on the plate!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

September 28, 2014 - This recipe was featured by Asian Food Channel on their Facebook and other social media pages.

Read more...

Dried Mandarin Orange Peels

Dried Mandarin Orange Peel

Save those mandarin orange peels!

Did you know that you can dry orange peels and use them for cooking later? It can be included into meat stews, hot soup desserts like red bean or barley soups, hot teas, used as seasoning and it can even be added into cakes. It doesn't just add flavour to cooking, it adds fragrance - it is this bit that gives recipes an extra edge.

I learned this from my aunt who's an ardent cook. It's pretty easy to do when you live in a country where it's summer all year round and it's sunny most times.

How-to:
1) Peel skin from mandarin orange.
2) Scrape the excess pith off the skin (not difficult because there isn't much).
3) Dry the orange peels out in the hot sun for a few days and that's it.

Dried and ready for use - Mandarin Orange Peels

I guess the same can be done with a regular orange but removing the pith may be a challenge for me since it has a thicker layer of white pith.

Of course I could peel it with a knife, slicing just beneath the skin. It helps to have a steady hand. Something I don't have..

Read more...

Baked Mandarin Orange Chicken with Buttered Potatoes and Apples

Baked Mandarin Orange Chicken with Buttered Potatoes and Apples

Distributing mandarin oranges to friends and family during the Lunar New Year is an age-old practice for people with Chinese roots in my homeland. I received my fair share during the festive season. That said, this is a long overdue blog post, at least two months behind schedule!

Aaah..anyway, back to the oranges. I wish I could have eaten it all as is, peeled fresh and just out of the fridge, but there was more than this household could handle with two boxes in keeping. So, I did what I could to clear it off quicker - I decided to cook it. And this is really yummy stuff although it's a simple recipe! Then again, when it comes to food, I've rarely ever said yuck.

I didn't mess the flavour with too much seasoning. I felt the juice from the orange would be sufficient to pass for delicious and it did.

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken drumsticks
- 2 potatoes (sliced thin, not all the way through)
- 2 red apples (sliced)
- 2 medium red onions (quartered)
- 3 mandarin oranges (Peel skin off from the segments of two oranges. Squeeze the juice out from one)
- 1 tbsp salted butter (softened)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cooking oil

How-to:
1) Season chicken with a little bit of salt, pepper and some mandarin orange juice.

2) Place the chicken on a lightly oiled baking tray. Add onions, orange segments and the remainder of the orange juice to create the yummy gravy. Sprinkle on a wee bit of salt and pepper.

3) Spread butter onto apples and potatoes. Place in a separate baking tray (also lightly oiled).

4) Bake for about 45 minutes at 175C. Baking time differs. You're done once the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are tender.

I garnished mine with some chopped celery leaves.
 

In the oven - Chicken with mandarin oranges

Baked Chicken and Mandarin Oranges

Read more...