A very tasty and somewhat different delicacy to serve with rice or couscous. Orange, honey and melon bring some nice sweetness, which chili and ginger challenge with their strong flavors.
Marinating takes its own time as always, but otherwise this dish is quite quick to make, and one can’t escape the fact that the color is really nice as well, don’t you think?
Both chili and ginger are quite hot spices. All the same I used a rather big piece of ginger and a whole chili pepper in a sauce made for two. There are huge differences between chili peppers though. The one I used in this sauce was a rather mild one and easy to eat, while others might be so hot that there will be smoke coming from your ears hours after dinner. I have also heard that the smaller pepper, the hotter it is.
Chili paprikas’ vitamin level is the highest in the world. They contain a lot of C, E and B vitamins. Capsaicin improve your health and it contains a lot of antioxidants. So it could be good to use them more, though I’m not a friend of extremely hot spices. I should really work on eating more chili peppers as well simply because due to the health benefit of them. One can get used to anything!
PORTION: 2 servings
TIME TO MAKE: preparing about 30 minutes, in the oven 35 minutes. Marinating at least 8-10 hours.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 about 150 gr chicken breasts
- Piel de Sapo melon (or some other melon, not a very sweet one) 3 rings about 1 cm thick
- 1 red chili paprika
- 3 teaspoons of grated or finely chopped ginger
- 1 tablespoon of grated orange rind
- Juice of one orange (about 1 dl)
- 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped coriander
- 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped mint
- 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
- 50 g butter
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- ½ tablespoon of potato flour mixed in water
Marinade (the preceding evening):
- ½ dl olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- lemon juice
Marinade (in the morning):
- 2 teaspoons of grated orange rind
- Juice of half an orange
Put the chicken breasts in the marinade the evening before baking if possible. You need at least eight hours seasoning for this dish. After four or five hours of seasoning add some more orange juice and the grated orange rind.
Preheat the oven to 220°C (428°F)
Peel and cut three melon rings in cubes. Remove the seeds. Put the cubes in a bowl and set aside.
Remove the seed of chili and cut it in very small pieces. Put it in the bowl.
Peel and crush or grate enough fresh ginger for 2-3 teaspoons. Put it in the bowl.
Wash one orange and grate enough the rind for 1 tablespoon and squeeze the juice of one orange (1 dl). Add them to the mix waiting in the bowl.
Melt the butter and mix it with the honey. Put it in the bowl as well as all the spices (coriander, mint, cayenne pepper). Toss well.
Put the breasts with their marinade in a suitable size baking tray. Pour in all the other ingredients. Add some salt if you feel it’s needed.
Drizzle the breasts with the stock and put them in the oven. Drizzle also few time while baking. In 35-40 minutes they should be evenly cooked.
In a small cup mix potato flour with a small amount of water. When the baking is otherwise ready, add the potato flour into the sauce: you do not have to take the breasts out while making this – pour just a little here and there mixing very well all the time. Don’t make the sauce too thick, stop adding the flour when the sauce is just slightly thickened.
Now you can add some salt or pepper if if you feel it is needed. Other than that the food is ready to be served with rice or couscous.
Tags: chicken breast in orange and melon sauce chili
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