Orange Chicken with Gingered Squash and Bulgur Wheat
I don’t really like rice. There, I said it. Sure, it’s alright, if you enjoy waiting 50 minutes for a flavorless, carb-fortified, mound of steaming nothing. Low fiber, low protein, and low taste. That’s what rice is. It’s fine enough as a filler sponge for sauces, soups, and stews, but you can really do better than that.
Enter bulgur. Bulgur wheat is my perennial substitute for rice. It has the same texture, but it has almost double the protein, more iron, a lower glycemic index, and 18X the fiber!
Don’t believe me? See them side-by-side. The labels speak for themselves.
Well, what about brown rice? Isn’t brown rice better for you than white rice. Well, yes, but let’s just see.
Brown rice has a few more grams of fiber and a single gram of protein more than white rice, but bulgur is still worlds better.
BUT WAIT! There’s more! If you start cooking bulgur now, you will have it in a fraction of the time. Bulgur takes about 10 minutes to cook while white rice comes out at about 30 minutes. Brown rice takes even longer to cook.
Aside from sticky rice for sushi and arborio rice for risotto, I can’t think of any other reason to have rice in my house. Bulgur fits the need and is better in every way.
This recipe is a wonderful way to use bulgur. Though the dish is entirely orange in color, the surprise is that it has a bright orange flavor as well. It’s winter squash meets summer citrus, melded together with eastern Asian flavors. I was very happy about how this turned out and am excited to share it with you.
Orange Chicken with Gingered Squash and Bulgur Wheat
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, diced
- 1 pound butternut squash, peeled, cored and diced
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup bulgur wheat (coarse ground #3)
- 1½ teaspoon ginger root, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
- salt and pepper
- black sesame seeds for garnish
Orange Sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1½ cups water
- 1/3 cup rice vinegar
- 2½ tablespoons soy sauce
- zest of two oranges (about 2 tablespoons)
- juice of two oranges (about 1/4 cup)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ginger root, minced
- ½ teaspoon garlic, minced
Preheat oven to 400°. In a small roasting dish, season squash with salt and pepper and rub with 1½ teaspoons minced ginger and 1/2 teaspoon garlic. Roast for 30 minutes until golden brown.
While the squash is roasting, begin to prepare the orange sauce. In a medium saucepan, add honey, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, rice vinegar, water, soy sauce, orange zest, orange juice, brown sugar, and garlic. Whew! Whisk well, boil, reduce heat to a light simmer, and reduce by half.
While the sauce is reducing, begin to prepare your chicken. Orange chicken is normally battered and deep fried. Not here! Why would I trounce upon a healthy meal with some unnecessary added fats? No, I’ll just lightly dust the chicken and pan fry. Let the sauce do the talking.
Season your chicken with salt and pepper and lightly coat in flour. In a large sauté pan on medium-high, melt the butter and add the chicken. Brown on all sides but do not cook through. Add the chicken stock and bulgur. Continue to cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and bulgur is tender. The bulgur should suck up all of the stock. Stir in the orange sauce.
If you have timed everything correctly, your squash should be done roasting by now. Remove from the oven and pour into a medium saucepan, making sure to get all juice from the pan. Puree with an immersion blender.
Plate with a ring of gingered squash, filling the ring with your orange sauce infused bulgur and chicken mixture. Garnish with black sesame seeds.
Nutritional Information
Servings: 4
Food energy: 676kcal
Saturated fatty acids: 5.63g
Monounsaturated fatty acids: 4.23g
Polyunsaturated fatty acids: 2.01g
Total fat: 11.88g
Calories from fat: 106
Cholesterol: 121mg
Carbohydrate, by difference: 94.23g
Total dietary fiber: 10.97g
Protein: 48.08g
Total lipid (fat): 13.31g
Water: 401.68g
Ash: 5.37g
Total sugars: 48.37g
Calcium: 121mg
Iron: 3.91mg
Magnesium: 149mg
Phosphorus: 491mg
Potassium: 1028mg
Sodium: 1117mg
Zinc: 2.53mg
Copper: 0.39mg
Manganese: 1.73mg
Selenium: 39.12μg
Vitamin C: 17.68mg
Thiamin: 0.34mg
Riboflavin: 0.34mg
Niacin: 22.21mg
Pantothenic acid: 2.10mg
Vitamin B6: 1.13mg
Folate, total: 46μg
Folic acid: –
Food folate: 46μg
Folate: 46μg dietary folate equivalents
Vitamin B12: 0.43μg
Vitamin A: 12859IU
Vitamin A RAE: 690μg retinol activity equivalents
Retinol: 56μg
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol): 2.22mg
Vitamin K (phylloquinone): 5.41μg
Alpha-carotene: 1g
Beta-carotene: 5g
Beta-cryptoxanthin: 3g
Lycopene: –
Lutein+zeazanthin: 94μg
Percent refuse: –
