Caramelized Chicken –Way to go, Ga Kho
* 2.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/3 cup fish sauce
* 1/3 cup rice vinegar
* 1/3 cup water
* 4 cloves of minced garlic
* 2 tbs grated/finely minced ginger (finely minced lemongrass is ok too)
* ! lg shallot, minced
* 2 tbs fish sauce for marinade
* 1 tbs brown sugar for marinade
* 1 jalepeno and 2 thai red chilis (optional) minced (then don’t touch your eyes or they will look like this -x x !)
* 2 green onions, sliced about 1/2 inch
* freshly cracked pepper
* roasted sesame seeds (few TBS) or roasted peanuts would be good, too
* 2 tbs cooking oil
Assorted fresh herbs to toss on top, Basil and Mint – kept in sprigs
Marinade the chicken with 2 tbs of fish sauce and 1 tbs brown sugar for a few hrs. In the meantime in a small bowl make the sauce by combining 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup water, rice vinegar, and fish sauce and mix until dissolve. Add the ginger, shallots, and garlic and set aside.
Heat a large pan on high with cooking oil and add the chicken with the flat surface of thigh facing down. Allow to sear without touching them for a minute or so and then pour in about 1/8 – ¼ cup of the sauce. Try not to move around the chicken as you want it to sear and caramelize. The sauce will start to thicken and the chicken will brown after a few minutes. Check to see if it's nicely caramelized, You are looking for nice sticky dark spots of caramel all glued to the chicken bits), then turn the pieces of chicken over and pour in the rest of the sauce. Continue to cook until sauce is reduced to nice thick consistency and just as you turn off the heat, toss in the chiles and green onions. (or, I prefer to add the chiles and cook them with the sauce – if you want them crunchier you can add them late)Transfer to serving platter lined with rice, and generously top with roasted sesame or peanuts, fresh cracked pepper, and the beautiful herbs.
Anyone who knows Tommy knows his (tired) shtick about chicken. He's not too fond of eating birds. (Birds in the Brit sense, yes, but chickens, no).
"They're nervous", he says. They don't taste like anything...
Well, could be. BUt. This chicken was so insanely good that he was forced to eat all his chicken loathing words and admit that it was one of the best chickens we've ever had. Chicken caramelized in sugar, fish sauce, hot peppers....so it's crispy, juicy, salty, sweet, spicy, fragrant, tender...
It proved to be even tastier the next day at lunch - (we were sitting down together after a hard morning working on Tommy's current rehab job, I came by to help out) and we couldn't even chat we were so involved eating this chicken. At one point, Tommy said, "Man, I'm full but I still keep eating it".
We were sad when it was gone.
I found this recipe online from a few Vietnamese bloggers and had a hunch it'd be pretty authentic and good. It may seem like a lot of fish sauce but go with it, it works!! Also, should be noted that if you have all the spices and sauces already in your fridge, it's a good money saver, as chicken thighs are pretty cheap. And you can't really over cook a chicken thigh. They seem to just keep getting juicer and more flavorful. And this dish is perfect on white rice - the contrast of all the flavors and textures - forgo the brown this time.
We had this with some carrot and cucumber salad, grated into strings, and a vinaigrette made from rice vinegar, sugar, fresh mint, jalapeno...simple Thai fare. A Riesling would be a good wine choice.
Oh yeah and the p.s. piece de resistance! Apparently this is Mick Jaggers favorite dish! I read it in an article somewhere. And if Mick likes it, well hey then I've gotta see for myself. Anyway, Mick was right, and I imagine he's eaten lots of birds.
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