It can be so painful navigating a good cookbook when you're allergic to fish. All of my favorite cookbooks, Movida, Momofuku and Red Lantern all have these absolutely delicious seafood dishes, many of which form the centrepieces of the books. Alas i have to flick past those pages to the meat, poultry and vegetarian but i always do feel a little bit cheated.
Thankfully, every dish that i DO cook from these books fills any void i may have felt previously, and i am once content with the food that i CAN eat. This is one of those dishes.
Deliciously sweet, gingery and sticky, i have again molested one of the Red Lantern recipes to suit it to my tastes: namely, cooking down the cooking liquid into a decadently sticky sauce to pour over the chicken at the end. My dad tends to omit the fresh coriander and parsley from the garnishes on my meals, but i feel they are integral to reinvigorating all of the cooked ingredients.
Ingredients (Serves 3)
- 6 chicken thigh cutlets
- 2 tbsp chopped ginger
- 2 tbsp chopped garlic
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 small onion, cut into wedges
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 long chillis
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 500ml chicken stock
- 2 stalks spring onion
- a handful of chopped coriander
- Steamed rice, for serving
Method
Place the chicken thighs in a bowlAdd the sliced chillis, 1 tbsp sugar, fish sauce, ginger and garlic and mix well
Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to marinate
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat
Add the chicken thighs, skin down and brown for 3-4 minutes until golden
Turn and brown for 2 more minutes on the other side
Remove the chicken from the saucepan and drain off any excess oil
Add the remaining sugar to the saucepan and cook until melted and lightly golden
Return the chicken to the pot, skin side up, with the marinating liquid and onions
Pour over the chicken stock
Cover, and cook for 20 minutes
Remove the chicken from the pot and cover to keep warm
Turn the heat to high and reduce the liquid to a thick sauce
Serve the chicken ontop of steamed rice with the sauce and a garnish of coriander and spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
This looks yummy! I do a version of my father's ginger chicken when I'm feeling the need for comfort food, but it involves soy instead of fish sauce, and it's a lot more saucy. I'll have to give this version a go.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of fish sauce, have you tried the real Phu Quoc stuff? A friend smuggled me back some recently - it's a whole other world!