Sticky Spicy Chicken

The other day, I was scrolling through the WP Reader when a recipe for Korean Sticky Chicken by Chandler Tomayko @ The International Poor Chef School Project caught my eye, as I knew that it was the sort of dish that Jake would love. Do go over and say hello to Chandler if you haven’t as yet – brought up in Texas, this young dynamo runs a cooking school, works as a personal chef and also teaches in well known culinary school in Costa Rica. I love her “kitchen hacks” – they are absolutely brilliant!

So with a few tweaks, this is my version of her recipe. I used bone in legs and thighs (wings would be amazing) and oven roasted them rather than frying them – you all must know by now that I have an aversion to frying…I also added some soy sauce and chilli flakes to the glaze. If you partially cook the chicken, you could finish this off on the barbecue, brushing the chicken with the glaze several times.

Jake told me over dinner that the aroma of the chicken cooking had his mouth watering and as he stood up to clear the table he said, “Please can you make that again, Mum? Soon?” So Chandler, thanks for a great recipe and Jake – here it is for you to attempt the next time!

• Servings: 4
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

INGREDIENTS

• 4 of each, free range chicken legs and thighs; skin on, bone in
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil

For the glaze:

• 3 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp soy or teriyaki sauce
• 1 Tbsp grated ginger
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• ½ tsp chilli flakes – adjust this amount to your palate

To finish:

• 2 Tbsp crushed or chopped peanuts (I used pre-roasted and salted ones which I pounded roughly in the mortar and pestle)
• 3 spring onions finely sliced

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F
2. Arrange chicken skin side up in a roasting tin.
3. Squeeze over the lemon juice, drizzle over a little oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Roast in the oven for 35 minutes.
5. While the chicken is roasting, place all the ingredients for the glaze in a small saucepan and heat gently. Let it come to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it bubble away for about 2 or 3 minutes, until it is thick and syrupy. It will froth up, so keep an eye on it and take it off the heat to let the bubbles subside if necessary. Take it off the heat and set aside.
6. When the chicken has had 35 minutes in the oven, pour off the juices from the chicken into the saucepan with the glaze and boil down to reduce  by half, for 3 or 4 minutes.
7. Pour this evenly over the chicken and return to the oven for 10 minutes or so to finish cooking and set the glaze.
8. Pile the chicken up in a serving dish, pour over the sauce from the roasting tin then strew with the chopped spring onions and crushed peanuts.

Serve with a steaming bowlful of jasmine rice and a carrot and cucumber ribbon salad dressed with rice vinegar, sugar and sesame oil.

© Selma Jeevanjee and Selma’s Table, 2013, 2014. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material, including photographs without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Selma Jeevanjee and Selma’s Table with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.