Vietnamese Caramel Chicken ( A Dash of Flavour's 600th recipe)

After the last year or so battling work loads, busy lives and being time poor I cannot believe that I have reached my 600th post.  Finally!!!  At times I have thought to myself I would have to stop blogging - the fear of not keeping up and not being able to regularly post worried me.  It's my nerdy hobby that I kept hidden even from my family but it's something that I find really enjoyable and in all honestly would love to spend more time focusing on it.  Thanks to everyone that still pops in to visit A Dash Of Flavour and a huge thank you to those that try recipes and leave me a comment.  I really appreciate every moment of support and your kind words.

So may I proudly present to you the 600th A Dash of Flavour recipe.....

There is nothing I enjoy more than experimenting with Asian cooking - except for eating it of course.  Actually who am I kidding?  I love experimenting with all foods!!

I think that the whole Asian cuisine is so diverse as it covers many countries, districts, cultures and even religions.  I believe that Caramel Chicken is of Vietnamese origin. It's actually a dish that none of us have ever eaten before - saying this we were all intrigued and excited about trying something this different.  I say this different and when it comes to dinners we often worry that some recipes will be sickly sweet.  We all adore Sweet and Sour Pork but only occasionally, all of us tend to order savoury style dishes in any cuisine.

This is a dish that covers many flavour angles - sweet (but not too sweet), sour, salty, mildly spicy and has the element of sticky!  Not to mention it is one of the easiest Asian dishes I have prepared in a long time.  My tip to ensure that Asian cooking is quick and easy is to ensure that everything is measured out before hand and that all the meat/vegetables are chopped ready to go.  As this wasn't a recipe that had millions of ingredients the preparation time was minimal also.

Served with steamed rice this basic dish was amazing - flavours totally out of this world.  Yes I have been told that I can cook this again.

Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

 

Serves: 6

 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 kilogram chicken thigh fillets, trimmed and halved

2 red onions, sliced

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 long red chilli, finely chopped (deseed to reduce heat if desired)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon lime juice

fresh coriander leaves

2 tablespoons chopped roasted unsalted peanuts

1 long red chilli, sliced

Heat oil in a large wok over a medium to high heat.  Add chicken and cook in two batches.  Cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Transfer to a bowl.  Reduce heat to medium.

 

Add onions to the same wok.  Stir fry for 2 -3 minutes or until starting to soften. 

Then add ginger, garlic and chilli.  Stir fry for 2 minutes or until fragrant.

 

Return chicken and juices to the wok along with the soy sauce.  Reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer, for about 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

 

Increase heat to high.  Add sugar and stir fry for about  4 to 5 minutes, or until caramelised.  Stir in the fish sauce and lime juice.  Remove from heat. 

 

Served garnished with coriander leaves, chopped peanuts and sliced chilli, if desired. 

 

(Click here for a printable version of this recipe)