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16-1/2 ounce can pitted black cherries, juice reserved
Preliminaries:
Season chicken with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika.
Heat oil in large, deep skillet on medium-high heat. Brown chicken on all sides, working in batches. Place chicken skin side up in large baking pan.
In medium bowl, combine chili sauce, water, brown sugar, onions, and raisins (with cherry juice); pour over chicken. Roast uncovered 40 minutes, basting occasionally.
Mix cherries with sherry or wine; pour over chicken; bake 30 minutes more.
Place chicken on serving platter. Spoon some sauce and fruit over chicken. If desired, use remaining pan juices as sauce for dipping latkes. To make dipping sauce, place remaining pan juices in medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, reducing in volume by about one-third. Use warm.
Poster's Notes: For some reason my Cherry Chili Chicken seems to be the most popular main dish from "Melting Pot Memories." It freezes well. I have revised it for Passover as I called Heinz, and although they have many KLP, they do not make a Passover Chili Sauce.
The following is the Passover recipe as it will appear in the Sun Sentinel in Florida on March 29th, 2001. The food editor, Deborah Hartz, actually went to the Morse Geriatric Center in West Palm and interviewed and photographed my 92-year-old aunt!!
Here's the revised Cherry Chili Chicken. I spoke to Rabbi Eidlitz, the national kosher food guru, who says that there is a KLP chili sauce available from Savion, so if you can find it, go ahead and use 3 cups. However, in my opinion I felt it is so esoteric that to avoid the "appearance" of being non-kosher for Passover, I rewrote my recipe. I put "preferably black" for the cherries, because although Rabbi Eidlitz says canned cherries for Passover are available, the black ones may not be available all over.
(The nutritional information was done by the Orange County Register which ran this recipe for Hanukkah. There I suggested reducing the leftover sauce to about 1/3 its volume and using it as a dipping sauce for latkes instead of applesauce. If you feel like making latkes for Passover, you can certainly do the same.)
Posted by Judy Bart Kancigor
Nutritional Info Per Serving: 555 calories, 43.3g protein, 35.3g carbohydrates, 24.9g fat, 40% calories from fat, 130mg cholesterol, 132mg sodium.
3/4 cup raisins
2 2-1/2-3 pound chickens, cut in fourths
garlic powder, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
paprika, to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 12-ounce bottles Chili Sauce (click here for recipe)
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 large onions, thinly sliced, about 4 cups
1/2 cup sweet sherry or wine
Place raisins in small bowl; pour juice from canned cherries over raisins. Set aside. Preheat oven to 325°F.