Like a game of Bridge, it's not just the cards that you're dealt with, but also how you play the hand. Well, in this case, I've been dealt with bottles of hoisin sauce, sesame oil and all the ginger I want. I have heaps of brown sugar (Fun fact: I'm perpetually under the impression that I'd run out of brown sugar, until I buy yet another pack and then open up the cupboard, where packs of brown sugar lay stacked together accusingly like ...hello?)
These ingredients combine nicely into this sweet soy-based marinade. Pulling these babies out of the oven and seeing crispy edges of the chicken skin is a bonus, and being photogenic to boot isn't half-bad either. Actually, I've also became quite prolific at shamelessly sprinkling bits of greenery into all my dishes to spruce up the colours. Take a closer look: are those really spring onions, or have you been duped like how I was at the supermarket?
Like many a lazy student, I didn't fancy standing over a fire stirring up a meal, and back when I was living by myself and cooking for one, ovens were a life-saver. Reach home, throw just-marinaded meat into the oven just before going into the shower, and presto! A no-fuss hungry student's guide to life. Ovens make cooking so much simpler, and if you have the time, braising most meat for couple of hours in the oven seem to softens them up until fork-tender. Ovens are so useful, I was wondering why aren't they used in Chinese cuisine, until I realised that we do! There's that common denominator of using charcoal and firewood to roast food, and Asian ones are giant contraptions where roasted poultry, pork belly and char siew hang from metal hooks, or where dough-based food like buns or naan are stuck to the walls of the well-like structure. While Western designs can be made compact with the advent of electricity and moved into a kitchen, I guess design wise, Asian style ovens are impossible to downsize and to put in every household.
Soy-Ginger Basted Chicken
Adapted from DiningAndCooking
The combination of well-marinated chicken paired with a crispy just-broiled skin is simply unbeatable. The addition of crunchy spicy cashews brings texture to the dish.
I made a couple of batches over a few weeks, and tweaked the recipe with the Asian technique of pre-coating the chicken with corn starch to tenderise it. It tastes of Japanese influence, as the ingredient list of soy, ginger and sugar comes remarkably close to how one makes teriyaki sauce.
INGREDIENTS
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1kg boneless chicken thighs
2-3 tsp corn starch
2 tsp salt
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
50ml + 3 tablespoons soy sauce, separated
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce (oyster sauce)
1 tablespoon cracked black pepp er
55g brown sugar (light or dark) or molasses
2cm ginger, peeled and minced
Spiced cashews, for garnishing
STEPS
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1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Season chicken thighs with corn starch and salt.
3. Combine sesame oil, 60ml soy sauce, hoisin sauce and black pepper. Immerse the chicken thighs into the soy sauce marinade. Keep refrigerated until ready to cook.
4. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons soy sauce, brown sugar and ginger, and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Arrange the chicken thighs skin-down on a roasting tray, and drizzle half of the ginger marinade over the chicken. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, then turn the chicken skin-side up and pour over the remaining half of the ginger marinade. Continue roasting for 12 minutes.
6. When chicken is almost fully cooked, transfer the chicken to the top rack, and broil for 1-2 minutes, until the skin is crispy.
7. Sprinkle generously with spicy cashews, if using.
