Oranges and Soy, sold for a penny!

A short account of a simple and easy attempt at chicken, on a tiring and exhausting day; a day which would have ideally called for a long bath, a blanket and bed. Choosing to cook and prep instead, makes me realise that come rain or shine, I would love to spend precious time in my place of refuge. This also goes to show that consciously opting to do the things that bring happiness, in the spur of the moment, can only bring more joy, to what would have otherwise become a mundane day. The little things, like they say, which do not cost more than a penny!

The week already felt long and tiring, even though it was only Tuesday. I could not believe the strain my system was going through this month, with long hours at the office, sleepless nights, and early mornings. To add to this, I had work constantly on my mind, which did not help to ease the constant suffering inside my head. I was going through the motions every day, of surviving on coffee and waiting for the next Friday to arrive. On this particular Tuesday, once I was back home, I decided that a great mode of relaxing would be to do something different that was guaranteed to spark joy, instead of the usual routine that would no doubt give my body the much desired respite, but was tried and tested with no spectacular results. I remembered that the orange juice that was squeezed that morning, and waiting for me in the fridge. My mind glanced into the past attempts at being on the verge of making my favourite orange chicken which never went past the stage of drooling at the online recipe. The wise words that we are all familiar with floated across in my head 'it is now or never', 'it is the little things that matter'. I decided right away that today would be the day that I would try my hand at the orange chicken recipe! I figured that the main ingredient of Soy Sauce was no longer in stock, after a fatal incident of breaking the bottle a while back. And of course we would need sesame seeds and hoisin sauce. So my husband and I agreed that we would take a longer ride on the motor bike, on the pretence of having to buy the missing ingredients. You have to understand that getting our new bike was the biggest highlight in my month, and I had still not gotten over the initial excitement. I could never have enough of those lovely bike rides, so we decided to check out some other stuff too on the way. And with that happy thought in my exhausted brain, I hopped onto the bike for a trip to the store.

By the time we got back home, I was the happiest ever, but dead tired. My body was at the point of giving up, though it was well nourished after a lip smacking dinner we had on the way back. My shower and bed beckoned to me, but I knew my heart wanted something else. There was a temporary moment of disbelief that I was even considering the idea of any work at such a point of time. The excitement however took over that momentary phase, and I was all set to start the process. Since we had already eaten, I took the wise decision of doing just the marinating for the day, and leaving the work with the pan for the next.

The chicken breasts were already kept out to thaw, and were all set to get diced. As I started to cut them into perfect bite-sized pieces, I began to feel all the knots in my shoulder ease. I was starting to relax with each square I cut with care. I felt a sense of happiness, an elation of its own kind. I took my time with this, as it seemed to have the desired effect that my body needed. I then got out the glass bowl to mix the sauces to marinate. I measured out one-fourth of a cup from the new bottle of soy sauce, and an extra bit of orange juice than what was prescribed in the book. I had already added sugar to the juice, so I decided I would skip the brown sugar content in the cooking. In also went a full tablespoon of Hoisin sauce and a generous amount of cornflour (a little less than the one-fourth of soy sauce I put in). I was going mostly by the recipe, and was a little shocked to see how different the colour of my muddy mixture looked, compared to the cool orange I was seeing online. In fact, I was a bit hesitant to even taste it, given that the murky hue did not look palatable. However, it tasted pretty good, and I knew that in marinated form, the chicken would taste fine. I felt accomplished, and my day now had found its purpose. It was not yet another wasted day of the week, similar to many of the past ones that I could recollect with little pride. As I cleaned up, I was looking forward to the next day, for which my work was well begun and half done already! I went to bed with a head held high, a smile on my face, and a wish upon the star that there would be more productive days in my life, like this one.

When the evening of the next day arrived, I was already thrilled to get started, knowing that I would have a meal ready in no time. But of course time does fly, and it did take a while for me to make the rice and have the chicken ready on the table. That being said, the pleasure of the moment decreased no less, and as my husband chopped the spring onions and capsicum (yes, I was going to add capsicum since I felt the need for it, unlike any of the people who I watched cooking this chicken online), I was all set to get going. I added a good amount of oil, and some garlic paste. For some reason, the temperature was too hot to take the paste, and there was a minor disaster of my entire stove ending up drenched in the oil splatter, leaving black residues of burnt garlic paste in the pan. Looking back now, that was only a minor setback, and my spirits continued to stay as high as the flame I forgot to turn down low! We put the chicken pieces in, along with the sauce it was left to marinate in, and let it cook well, resisting the urge to flip it to its other side. The rice was ready by now, and all we had to do, was to wait for the chicken to get done. I added the capsicum, the rebel in me smirking at the move. I added the juice of an entire orange while it was cooking, and relished the slight sticky glaze it was acquiring. Salt went in, and at the point where it tasted a little too tangy, I added some brown sugar, despite my decision to skip that ingredient. By now it smelled quite great, a nice Chinese-food flavoured aroma, that filled my kitchen for the first time! I was glad I added the capsicum, as it gave the dish the required extra mile. As with all chicken cubes, this too got done in hardly any time, and I left the lid on to let it simmer in the juices after the taking it off the stove. It looked a lot less glamorous than I expected it to (it was in no way 'orange' by any means), but I was pleased at the conviction that was growing inside me that it would taste just right. And yes, intuitions seldom go wrong.

And that was it! A plate full of relish with some good old binge watching, the result of a minor decision the previous day, to stay happy. I am still riding on the high that day gave me, and I am not ashamed to admit it, despite the sense it gives me of how pathetic 'a day in the life of me' might be, if this is the kind of joy I derive. But that is exactly my take-away from this lesson - that it is indeed the littlest of things, that make the day (and the following week) worth its weight - a second's good decision of allowing my soul to be moved on two wheels, a tummy full of happiness, and the new baby in my kitchen created with something as simple as oranges and soy!