Samoa #2

I could have found a few more dinners from Samoa to make, but I decided to just do one, since the dishes from Tongo, The Marquesas, Polynesia and Hawaii will all be similar when I get to them. I am a huge mango fan, so when I read the title for this recipe, I knew I'd be making it. Then, I read it should be served with coconut rice –yum! There were no vegetables in the dish, so I decided to add some bell peppers, since those are my favorite, and they're a common vegetable in Polynesia. I have become a huge Sam Choy fan after reading about him and his cuisine.
For this recipe, I used 2 chicken breasts, and halved the sauce and rice amounts. He warns that the recipe seems very long, but it's all things you most likely have on hand. I used only 1 tbsp. of oil in the sauce, not ½ cup, and used a whole mango instead of half!

Mango-Spiced Chicken

1 chicken, quartered

Sea salt and white pepper, to taste

2 tbsp. minced garlic

2 tbsp. ginger root, grated

¼ cup sugar

3 tbsp. water

1 ½ tsp. celery seed

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. paprika

2 ½ tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp. vinegar

1 cup oil

½ cup ketchup

¼ cup grated onion

1 jar mango preserves

1 package onion soup mix

1 cup fresh mango, cubed

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

Marinade the chicken by rubbing on mixture of sea salt, pepper, garlic, and ginger. Cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Place chicken in a roasting pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, water, celery seed, salt, paprika, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, oil, ketchup, onion, mango preserves, soup mix, mango, and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Serve over coconut rice.

Samoan Coconut Rice

2 cups basmati rice

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup chicken stock

½ cup diced onion

Shredded unsweetened coconut for garnish

Rinse rice, and drain. In a rice cooker, combine rice, coconut milk, stock, and onion. After rice is cooked, sprinkle with coconut.

Sam Choy’s Polynesian Kitchen, Sam Choy. Hyperion, NY, NY. 2002.