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Monday, November 30, 2009

Vietnamese Chicken in Caramel-Ginger Sauce


Vietnamese Chicken in Caramel-Ginger Sauce served over rice.

Having tried Ravenous Couple's Ga Kho, I didn't care to ever try this recipe again except for experimental purposes. After all, Ravenous Couple's recipe was just as easy and better yet, used bone-in thighs and legs, which are much less expensive than boneless thighs or breasts (breasts being the pieces I used in my first post of this recipe), and tasted so much better as well!

Unfortunately, Rodney's colon pitched a bitch about Ga Kho, though his palate enjoyed it immensely. I think it was probably the jalapenos; I'll have to investigate that in the future. Rodney requested this chicken dish, but requested it the "old" way.

I prepared it according to the original recipe; like last time, I doubled the amount of chicken, however, I used thighs but didn't bother to quarter them.

Vietnamese Chicken in Caramel-Ginger Sauce

2 tbsp olive oil
3 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs
3 tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 tbsp chopped shallots or onion
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 c water
1 c diagonally sliced green onions (2 inches)


Ingredients mise en place.

Heat large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add oil; heat until hot. Add chicken; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until browned.

Because I used twice as much chicken as what was called for in the original recipe, I browned the chicken in two separate skillets and then combined them in the larger skillet.

Add ginger, shallots and garlic; cook and stir 1 minute.


Add all remaining ingredients except water and green onions. Bring to a boil; boil until sauce begins to thicken.


Add water. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Stir in green onions.


If you want to, serve with a side of kimchee.



Sure, this chicken tasted really good but not nearly as good as Ravenous Couple's recipe. While writing this post, I realized that this recipe is for "chicken in sauce", not "caramelized chicken". And there is a difference. A distinct difference.


Cost:
  • boneless skinless chicken thighs: $12.23/3 lb
  • minced ginger: $1.75
  • green onions: $0.33
Total:  $14.31.  Geez!  You're better off saving this recipe for when thighs are on sale.  This is outrageous.  


Ultimately, I hope to eat regularly a caramely chicken than chicken in sauce in the future.  I'll only achieve that through trial and error. Since Rodney's boop-chute is the judge, I'll have to be completely sure of my design of experiment before I actually proceed. Rodney may one day tell me, "Screw all this! Just stick with the first Vietnamese chicken recipe!" I need to be sure of what I'm doing next time as I begin to integrate the two recipes...

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