Chicken in Caramel Sauce

Submitted by Julesong

"This recipe is based on the dish from the Slanted Door restaurant in San Francisco. Flavorful and delicious!! (And pretty easy to make, too.)"

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 16
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1⁄4 cup water
• 1⁄4 cup fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce or 1 teaspoon regular soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon slivered ginger
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 2 small fresh Thai chiles or 2 small dried Thai chiles, broken in half
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 large shallot, sliced
• 1 3⁄4 lbs skinless boneless dark chicken meat, cut into bite size pieces
• 1⁄4 lb skinless boneless white meat chicken, cut into bite size pieces
• steamed white rice
• 1 fresh cilantro, sprig for garnish

directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, water, fish sauce, vinegar, sherry, garlic, soy sauce, ginger, black pepper, and chiles and mix well; set this sauce mixture aside.
2. In a large pot over high temperature, heat the oil; add the sliced shallot and sauté until brown, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the chicken pieces and cook until slightly browned, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the sauce mixture to the pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces by half, about 10 to 12 minutes.
5. Put the steamed rice in a serving bowl or plate and spoon the chicken over it, garnish with cilantro sprig.

Reviews

[Kasha]

Surprisingly easy despite the long list of ingredients. I cut down a titch on the fish sauce and replaced with water. The taste of the fish sauce is necessary though, and not at all fishy. Also, let it cook all the way down, you don't want or need a lot of sauce with this. Served with green beans and rice. Super good. Next time I will use thighs instead of the breasts I had.

 

[Daydream]

Superb! I used 750g boneless chicken thighs, added some shredded silverbeet from my garden with the sauce, but otherwise followed the recipe to the letter. I think the roasted cashews would be delicious too. Enjoyed by all, and a keeper.

 

[evelynathens]

Yes!!! This is wonderful! I did do things slightly differently but do not feel I lost the basic 'spirit' of the recipe. I made slightly more sauce and added a whole sliced (large) onion 5 minutes before the end and 3 cups of broccoli florets. I found I had too much liquid after everything was done crisp-tender, so I removed the chicken and veg with a slotted spoon and reduced the sauce to a caramelly glaze. Did I say this was terrific? Garlicky, sweet, salty, sour...too good! Oh yes, I also added a fistful of roasted cashews at the end. Did I mention how much I enjoyed this? Thank YOU, Jules!

 

[Tishiz2fly]

Pretty good, almost tastes like a teriyaki sauce. I didn't like that the fish sauce was very strong and there was a slight aftertaste. I found that there was too much liquid too, and I removed the chicken and reduced the sauce and added cornstarch to thicken it. I think I should have let the sauce reduce all the way down to a glaze and it would have tasted better.