Rise and Shine

Sometimes supper just needs to be fast and easy. Saturday, the human residents of Chez Boeckman-Walker found themselves in need of a fast and easy supper since we'd stayed out a bit later than usual on our Saturday afternoon adventures in consumerism. Since the husband has expressed a desire for some kind of "citrus-y chicken recipe" earlier in the day, I had three chicken breasts thawed but was undecided in how to produce a "citrus-y" dish.

Then it hit me: I have some kind of OJ chicken and rice recipe. Sunrise chicken or sunshine chicken or sun-something chicken. Sure enough, Gentle Reader, my memory did not fail me this time.

Back when I started trolling some of my favorite recipe sites for recipes, I'd bookmarked one that called for using OJ as the liquid in which to prepare the rice for a basic chicken and rice dish. I recalled making the recipe and being disappointed that it lacked a strong orange flavor, but I'd nevertheless written down the recipe. The dish is dubiously dubbed Sunshine Chicken, which called to my mind visions of South Koreans putting on happy, sunny faces when dealing with North Koreans in hopes that they could all just get along, with all of this smiling happening over a big dish of boring-ass chicken and rice.

Yeah, I know, Gentle Reader, I'm a little bit deranged. But doesn't Sunshine Chicken sound more like a breakfast dish? Here's the recipe so you can decide for yourself:

Sunshine Chicken2-3 t curry powder
1 1/4 t NaCl, divided
1/4 t pepper
6 chicken breast halves, boned and skinned
1 1/2 C OJ
1 C uncooked long-grain rice
3/4 C water
1 T brown sugar
1 t ground mustard
Chopped fresh parsley

1. Combine the curry powder, 1/2 teaspoon of NaCl and the pepper, rub it over both sides of the chicken.
   
2. In a skillet, combine the OJ, rice, water, brown sugar, mustard and remaining NaCl and stir well.
   
3. Place the chicken atop the rice mixture, then bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 20-25 minutes.
   
4. Remove the heat and let the dish stand, covered, until all liquid has absorbed (about 5 min.).
   
5. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

Yield: 6 servings

Nutritional Info
Calories: 304
Fat: 4 g
Protein: 30 g
Carbs: 36 g
Cholesterol: 73 mg
Na: 66 mg

I'm not sure how accurate this info is because the recipe notes said info is based on a serving without salt. I have to ask why the help you'd calculate a serving without NaCl when the recipe calls for 1 1/4 teaspoons of the stuff without noting that it's optional.

Also the nutritional info notes a serving has no fiber. Long-grain white rice per TheDailyPlate has roughly two-thirds of a gram of fiber per cup, but I'm not sure if that's a cup of cooked rice or uncooked. Long-grain brown rice has just over a gram per half-cup serving (cooked, I believe). While the fiber content is negligible, there's still some there.

The Faudie's Futzings

• Because I was short on time, I didn't combine the curry, NaCl and pepper into a rub. After trimming the fat from the three breasts, I dried each one with a paper towel--a tip I learned from America's Test Kitchen that helps improve browning times--then sprinkled curry powder on one side, rubbed it in, flipped the breast over then rubbed some more curry powder on the other side. Once I placed the three curry-rubbed breasts into the skillet, I sprinkled some more curry powder and just a bit of pepper on them. I likes my curry powder! Plus I recalled that the two to three teaspoons called for in the recipe was just a waste--it didn't yield any flavor impact.
  
• Recalling that the orange flavor was lacking the first time I made the dish, I replaced the 3/4 cup of water with the 3/4 cup of OJ I had left in the pitcher after adding the initial 1 1/2 cup. Not only did I get a good orange flavor, but I finished up the OJ I'd made for a previous culinary misadventure that was taking up space in my refrigerator. Woohoo!
  
• Screw parsley.
  
• Screw letting a dish stand for 5 minutes. When you've got a hungry 5-year-old monkey boy to feed, you don't have time to let a dish stand.
  
• I used probably just under a teaspoon of kosher salt. "Why kosher?" you ask, Gentle Reader? Because Cook's Illustrated found it to be a good all-around cooking salt, plus I have a big-ass box of it sitting on my counter by the stove because I have no room for it in my spice/medicine cabinet. (And yes I know, Gentle Reader, I'm a hypocrite for keeping the meds in a cabinet near a heat source after writing so many articles about keeping meds in a cool, dry place. But I have no cool, dry places in my home that are also inaccessible to monkey boys.)

The curry powder adds a nice kick to the orange flavor. While the very strong orange color of the finished dish does--at least to me--conjure images of the breakfast table, this is definitely not a breakfast food. Perhaps I'll rename this dish something more descriptive, such as Curried Orange Chicken. I already have one smiling South Korean at my table, after all.

Update
Did anyone else notice from Saturday morning's post how much the Gaido's crab looks like the FSM? See for yourself:

All hail the FSM!

All hail the GRC*!

*Gaido's Roof Crab. Roof crabs are fifth cousins twice removed of the infamous rock lobsters.