It’s not always Italian food that comes out of my kitchen and there are times when I really crave some different flavours. This sticky chicken recipe definitely hits the spot and it’s also super easy to prepare. I am sure you can substitute the chicken for other meats, and I was thinking today that it would work well with ribs. It reminds me a little of a sticky BBQ pork rib recipe my mother would make for us from her Chinese cooking repertoire.
I will include the full recipe, but I usually do not add the garlic. Alberto isn’t a garlic fan, so it’s just easier to omit it. If I were to add garlic though, I wouldn’t add the 8 cloves the recipe calls for but add maybe 2 at the most. This cooks best in a heavy based pot and luckily I have my Le Creuset pot which works perfectly. (Nothing would stop you finishing off this recipe in the oven actually).
Caramel Chicken
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1.2kg Chicken pieces. Skin On, (preferably bone-in legs & thighs)
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled
- 70g (1/3 Cup) brown sugar (I use dark muscovado)
- 60mls rice vinegar
- 3cm fresh ginger peeled and sliced thinly. (I freeze my ginger and this makes slicing it very thin really easy if you do it while it’s still frozen.)
- 250ml chicken broth
- 60mls soy sauce
- fresh basil & fresh chilli to garnish
- Heat oil in large heavy based pot over medium high heat.
- Work in batches if necessary, and add chicken pieces skin side down. Cook until skin is golden brown and crisp, then transfer chicken to a plate.
- Add garlic to pot, and cook stirring often until golden. Remove from pot, and put aside with chicken. Pour off fat from pot.
- Return pot to heat, and add 125ml water, and using a wooden spoon, scrape away any brown bits.
- Add brown sugar and stir until sugar has dissolved. Continue cooking and stirring until mixture thickens.
- Add vinegar carefully. If sugar crystallizes, continue stirring until sugar dissolves again.
- Add ginger, broth, and soy sauce. Add chicken pieces back into pot, skin side up. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to cook on simmer for about 30min.
- Remove chicken pieces from pot, and bring liquid back to a boil. Cook for about 10 minutes, allowing the liquid to reduce and thicken. Return chicken to pot, and coat with sweet thickened sauce.
- Serve with white rice, and sprinkle freshly torn basil on top. Serve with some fresh chilli peppers if you like a little heat.
**This recipe would work well with pork, but the flavours of the sauce would also be delicious with salmon steaks. Obviously the cooking time with salmon would be different. I would prepare the sauce, reducing it down, and add the salmon steaks at the end, so as to cook them through gently & quickly, avoiding that they overcook.
