Joe's Mango Chicken

As promised here is my Mango Chicken recipe. When my parents came to visit we went to the Everglades, stopped at "Robert Is Here", and I spent $45 on Mangoes, Lychees, and Passion Fruit. I thought my parents would actually help out and eat some and they didn't eat a thing! Not one bite! So I was eating 5 mangoes a day and absolutely loving it. Every meal we made I wanted to add mango. Mango salad, mango shrimp, and then mango chicken. Natalie asked one night what is for dinner and I said mango chicken. She gave me the look like I'm nuts. I said I think I could make it work. I googled mango chicken really quick and checked out the first recipe just to get an idea of what is required for a mango chicken. Off of that I decided that I don't want some of those ingredients, I want more of some of them, and I wanted to add a little of my own. I also greatly changed the way the chicken looks. Their description says it looks and taste like fried food without all the calories. My does not look like it's fried. So anyways I took a few of their ideas and ran with it. And thus, Joe's Mango Chicken was born.

As far as what type of mangoes to use... Well the first time I made it I used the best mangoes I have eaten so far. They are called Glenn Mangoes. Last night I did it with Madame Francis (Haitian) mangoes that a coworker gave me. Everyone in Miami talks up Haitian Mangoes like they are the best. Probably because they eat off their neighbor's trees and have never gone and bought speciality mangoes. I actually have a Haitian Mango tree but it hasn't fruited yet. After tasting a Haitian Mango I decided I am going to sell my tree and buy a better mango, probably the Valencia Pride. It's not that the Haitian Mango is a bad mango, like the Tommy Atkin, but it's far from the best. They are very stringy and you have to floss like mad after eating them. There are probably 40 varieties that are better than the Madame Francis. Nam Doc Mai (I have a Nam Doc Mai tree, hasn't fruited yet, suppose to be the best), Valencia Pride, Alfonso, Ataulfo, Glenn, Carrie, Julie, Dot, Florigon, Kent. Just to name a few of best of the hundreds of varieties of mangoes out there. Anyways to the point. I used a Glenn the first time and a Madame Francis the second and even though when you're eating them plain it's very easy to tell the difference, I couldn't tell the difference when cooking with them. Most people buy those sulfuric tasting, stringy, garbage, Tommy Atkin Mangoes since that is what stores carry 85% of the time. Will they taste as good cooked as a Glenn? I can't say. Haven't tried it yet. Who knows, maybe that strong sulfuric taste will make the chicken better. So as far as what mangoes are good to use I am experimenting still.

Anyways here is what you need to do.

2-3 chicken breast

olive oil for pan-frying
1 cup all-purpose flour (or rice flour) mixed with 1/2 tsp. salt
extra 1/2 to 1 mango, cut into chunks (to finish the dish)
1/4 cup coconut milk or water

MANGO SAUCE:
2-3 fresh ripe mangoes
1 red chili or jalapeno
1+1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
a light sprinkle of paprika
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1 lime
2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 thumb-size piece of fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/2 cup fresh coriander

Place all 'Mango Sauce' ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process well, until more or less smooth.

Taste-test the sauce. The goal is to reach a balance of sweet, sour, spicy, and salty.

Stir the flour and salt together and place in a mixing-type bowl. Add the chicken pieces and turn or gently stir them to coat.

Heat frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil, then begin frying the chicken pieces. Fry 3-5 minutes until cooked all the way through. I cook it until the chicken pretty much falls apart if you try to twist a fork in it. Remove chicken from pan and set on paper towel, or a clean surface.

Wash out the frying pan, or use another (clean) one. Set over medium-high heat and add the mango sauce with 1/4 cup water or coconut milk. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to a simmer (medium to low heat).

Add the fried chicken pieces, gently stirring them in to cover with sauce. This is the part where the chicken goes from looking like it's fried in flour to looking like it's covered in a sauce. I use a lot of sauce.

Add chunks of mango. Simmer briefly, just until everything is hot.

Here are my pictures. They don't look very impressive because I was tired and didn't feel like dressing up my plate for paparazzi shots last night. But the flavor is amazing.

Miami Is Full Of Strange People

So being that I am a So-Cal native, I had no clue how strange people are here. I'm learning more and more as each day goes on, ever since the arrival of the District Office Chicken, our new mascot here.

The chicken first arrived about 3 weeks ago. I was walking out to grab a soda down the street and while walking out the front door I noticed a chicken standing with his back to the window, chest puffed out, looking towards the street. There are people all around outside, sitting and waiting, and this chicken was not phased by all the action around him. He was standing still and looked like a statue. So I got a little laugh about it. I mean this is a common scene in Key West where you see chickens all over the streets and even on top of the buildings, don't ask me how they get there. But that raises the question of how did this chicken get here, and why did he cross the road.

So a lot of people like the chicken. Customers like to pet it and someone has even been bringing it food and water. The majority of workers here do not want it removed, we want it left alone, it's our mascot and it's kinda funny have a chicken at the front door everyday.

But there are some people here that are superstitious and afraid of the chicken. I had no idea that people in this country are so weird and superstitious. There has been a lot of Santeria talk, a lot of "don't go near that chicken".

Due to all the Santeria talk I have got an even further education of how superstitious people are here. The lady that took the pictures of the chicken started telling me about a goat that was slaughtered at her husbands work, ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement), and how no islanders would go near the thing because they thought it's spirit would get them. Then she proceeded to tell me about the brown bags in the freezer. I guess there was a lady in the office that no one liked so everyone wrote her name on a paper and put it in a brown bag. So this lady telling the story says that she goes to open the freezer and there are 20 brown bags. She tells everyone to take their food home or it's going in the trash. They all freak out and told her those bags have to remain in there forever because it keeps the annoying person away from them and since they have done it she has left them alone. Some kind of Santeria curse. And other people took it even further and took the brown bags to train tracks, not the ones next to the office though because they have to be so far away from the person you want to curse. Then 9 train cars have to run it over and then you can freeze it.

This kind of stuff just baffles me. I mean we are in a day where we drive cars to work. We have technology. We have education, well some of us. And yet so many people in this country believe in the strangest voodoo stuff. I was watching a show about the Machiguenga in the Amazon and they believe that deer spirits can enter a person's body and make them sleep with their own daughters, yet they eat monkeys, which are as close to human as you get. I can understand when people that are living in the rainforest out of society and not educated can believe in something so far fetched, but in the modern world, well it's mind boggling. But ever notice in America there are no 13th floors? Or how many people do you know that are afraid of the number 666. I used to work in a meat department and people would make me put more meat on or take some off if it weighed or cost 666. So stupid. How many times in their life you think they come across that number without even realizing it. I like to mess with people and if I see a chicken at the store that cost $6.66 I buy it and then I get a big smile and say it's my lucky number when they ring it up. I don't believe in superstition at all, it's ridiculous.

Here are some pictures of our famous Immigration Chicken. I think he crossed the road/boarder, to get a visa. We'll see if he gets denied. One of the higher ups isn't so happy about the chicken being here. Everyone else seems to be on my side and want to give this chicken political asylum. Don't deport our chicken, leave him alone.