Glazed Orange Marinade

This simple marinade is excellent for chicken, duck or pork, and is also delicious with salmon. It can be used to bring great flavour to roasted, barbequed or fried dishes. For a vegetarian version, substitute tofu for the meat.

Ingredients:

200 ml Vegetable broth
Fresh juice of 3 oranges
20 grams (1 Tbsp) Sugar
40 ml (2 Tbsp) Rice Wine Vinegar
20 ml (1 Tbsp) low salt soy sauce (or Tamari for gluten free)
2 cloves of garlic finely minced
3 cm of ginger, grated
2.5 ml (½ tsp) Sriracha hot sauce
2.5 grams (1 tsp) of cornflour to thicken with 125 ml water

Method

Add the vegetable stock to a bowl.

Squeeze the oranges and stir the juice into the bowl, (avoid including any pips!).

While stirring, add the soy sauce and vinegar.

Stir in the garlic and ginger

Zest the oranges into the bowl using a fine grater or microplane.

Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

Add the chilli sauce and stir well.

In a separate bowl, add the water and slowly add the corn starch while stirring. Continue until the consistency is that of cream.

Stir the corn starch solution into the bowl of marinade, and continue to stir until everything is completely combined.

Marinate the meat or fish for at least 30 minutes, preferably for 2 hours or more in the fridge.

Brushing the marinade over meat while it cooks will further enhance the flavour. Fish cooks rapidly so no need to baste.

To make a gluten-free version of the marinade, substitute the soy sauce with Tamari (Japanese gluten-free soy sauce).

Alter the ingredients to suit your own taste – for example you may wish to reduce/increase the level of chilli sauce, or prefer more/less garlic.

This marinade lends itself to experimentation, so don’t hesitate to try variations on the recipe – such as adding chilli flakes as well as or instead of chilli sauce, and adding lemon juice or red wine vinegar in place of rice wine vinegar.

While fresh oranges are preferable, orange juice can be used, but make sure it contains 100% orange, and reduce the amount water to compensate for the added liquid.

The marinade can also be used as a sauce poured over the cooked meat or fish (especially tasty with salmon). Add the marinade to a saucepan and reduce it over medium heat to give a rich, sticky consistency.

A dietitian and nutritionist in Orange NSW, Natalia Knezivic provides practical and achievable advice for common nutrition problems.