My mom was a great cook… always experimenting with new recipes she had collected from friends or the newspaper. A couple of years ago I found two of her recipes boxes I had forgotten I took when she passed away several years ago. I made a promise to go through the recipes and make as many as I could… and then forgot. Perhaps this was on purpose because I just wasn’t ready.
The other day I was racking my brain to think of something different to do with chicken and then I remembered one of my favorite dishes my mom would prepare: Chicken Jaffa. I’ve never seen this on a menu or heard anyone prepare it before and have no clue where my mom got this recipe. In fact, I haven’t had this in more than twenty years. I had often thought of making it over the years but my ex never like an “orange sauce” so I put it out of my mind.
I went to the box to see if there was a recipe card for this – found it immediately! My mother rarely used shortcuts in recipes (unless that’s the way the recipe was written). Her recipe uses a couple packages of chicken gravy mix but I decided to forgo this… after looking at the recipe I figured I could easily make the sauce without a mix. I added a couple other ingredients as well, just…. because…
Chicken Jaffe served over brown rice
Chicken Jaffa
(approx 4 servings)
2 lbs chicken thighs
2 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
1 small onion, chopped
1 small shallot, minced
3 – 4 garlic cloves, minced
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons chicken stock concentrate or powder
¼ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy bottom skillet. Brown chicken in skillet, approx 2 – 3 minutes each side and place in baking/casserole dish.
Remove some of the oil from the skillet. Saute onion, garlic, fresh ginger and shallots over medium high heat until onions are opaque.
In a separate bowl, whisk together orange juice, flour, ground ginger and ground cardamom. Add to onion mixture in pan and bring to a low boil. Add chicken stock concentrate and brown sugar and stir until completely mixed. Let simmer for a few minutes then pour over chicken in baking/casserole dish.
Place in 350 degree oven (uncovered) for 40 minutes. Serve over rice.
Chicken Jaffa, up close and personal
