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Friday, February 4, 2011

Curried Orange Chicken

Even though I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately (but I'm trying to fix it by hosting a read-along...won't you join me?), I have been getting back into my love of cooking.  Tonight I made a new recipe from an old cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens Cooking for Two (copyright 1968!).  Recipes from this era were a bit different (women had much more skill in the kitchen, apparently) so I revised it a bit.  Even so, this is pretty easy.

Curried Orange Chicken

2-3 chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold water
1/2 orange, peeled, sliced, and quartered

If you like more sauce per chicken, use 2 chicken breasts.  Also, if you're a big fan of curry, you can up it to 1 teaspoon.

Sprinkle chicken with curry powder; rub curry into meat.  Arrange chicken in small baking dish.  Combine orange juice, honey, and mustard in small saucepan; simmer until blended.  Pour over chicken; bake at 400° F for 30 minutes.

Remove chicken to serving platter (yeah, I thought that was funny, too) and keep warm.  In small saucepan, combine cornstarch and water; stir in pan juices from chicken.  Cook and stir until thick and bubbly.  Add orange pieces; heat 1 minute.  Pour sauce over chicken on platter or serve separately to be spooned over hot cooked rice.  Makes 2 servings (unless you used 3 chicken breasts, and then it serves 3, obviously).


I would definitely make this dish again.  My husband, who is a texture eater and doesn't eat oranges for that reason alone, ate and liked each of the orange pieces on his plate.  Win!

12 comments:

  1. Delicious! Fabulous photo.

    And guess what? I totally made orange chicken stir fry last night, complete with orange slices. Great minds, eh?

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  2. wait...I am trying to remember where my serving platters are...for 2 chicken breasts... ;-)

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  3. Looks terrific! I think I have something that might be called a serving platter around here somewhere.

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  4. Caite and Joy: haha! The recipe originally called for a whole chicken, cut up, but I figured most of us would not be cutting up an entire chicken just to make this. So I changed it to chicken breasts, which are what I normally cook (plus then I don't have to worry about bones or skin). And instead of a serving platter I just stuck them in another baking dish and put the oven on "warm." I'm impressed with the lengths to which women used to go, but I'm sure glad I can take the easy way out!

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  5. Oh yum. Fruit with curry = fabulous. I too would have immediately used chicken breasts and wouldn't bother with the serving platter for a family weeknight dinner.

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  6. That looks yummy! I'll have to make it for my hubby who loves orange chicken.

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  7. I used to have that cookbook - up until the three kids came along. I didn't know it was still around. I don't recall this recipe, however. It wouldn't have appealed to my husband back in the sixties but he's now an "enlightened" eater. (That's my way of getting him to eat what he calls froo-froo food.)

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  8. Serving platter... *scratches head*

    This looks delicious! I know I've made some sort of orange chicken recipe in the past, but I can't remember if it had curry in it. I may have to give this one a try!

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  9. Your served up plate looks very pretty and I'm glad to hear your husband enjoyed it. I love browsing through old cookbooks, especially the photos of thin-waisted aproned women. Glad this one worked out.

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  10. Margot, the reason it is still around is because I never throw out a book, and I have kept all of my cookbooks other than those I gave to Amy.

    Amy - way back in "the day" (mine) we used to buy whole chickens and cut them into the pieces because it was so much less expensive. Also, most women didn't have outside jobs, so convenience wasn't so important, and this was just part of the women's work.

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