I absolutely love the simplicity of Bill's recipes. He taught me that great food doesn't necessarily have to be complicated. I have never had a bad meal when using his recipes. This caramel chicken is a fine example. A wok, chicken thigh fillets and a few pantry items are all you need to serve up a delicious meal that will be well loved by the whole family.
I adore the effortlessness and graceciousness Laura Calder has displayed in her cooking shows on lifestyle food channel. I learnt from her that the kitchen should not be a stressful place. It's a place to relax, be creative and it should be a place to serve up plates after plates of deliciousness to share with friends and family.
Do you have a chef or a cook who inspires you?
(Adapted from Bill Granger's Bills Open Kitchen)
Serves 4
Ingredients
8 chicken thigh fillets, chopped in half
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, sliced
Freshly ground black pepper
60 ml (1/4 cup) dark soy sauce
115 g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
60 ml (1/4 cup) fish sauce
To serve:
Steamed rice
Steamed green vegetables, such as snow peas, asparagus or Chinese broccoli
Method:
- Place the chicken and oil in a bowl and toss to combine. Heat a large frying pan over a high heat until hot.
- Add the chicken, in two batches, and cook for 2 minutes on one side until lightly brown, turn and cook for another minute. Remove from the pan.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add a little extra oil if needed. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Return the chicken to the pan, sprinkle liberally with black pepper, add the soy sauce and stir to combine.
- Cover the pan, reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Increase the heat to high, add the sugar and stir to combine.
- Cook uncovered for 3-4 minutes, or until the sauce is rich, dark and syrupy.
- Add the fish sauce and stir to combine.
- Place in a serving dish and serve with steamed rice and green vegetables.
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67 comments:
A wonderful dish! I make caramel pork/beef on a regular basis, but I've never tried using chicken...
Cheers,
Rosa
This dish looks scrumptious!!
very delicious! i would love this tonight please....
I make this dish all the time, although I use bone in thighs with the skin on. Lately, after browning the chicken, I remove the skin. I was reading somewhere (maybe Bitman), that leaving the skin on to brown, leave the meat unscorched (less drying) and remove to braise, lets the meat absorb the wonderful juices/sauce.
Yours looks gorgeous BTW.
looks yummy! i'm gonna have to try the recipe. cooks that inspire me are jamie oliver and laura calder, for the same reason that a kitchen should not be a stressful place. the more we enjoy the cooking, the better the result is.
Nice and easy. Quite the classic!
Hi Ellie,
Woah awesome dish..looks delicious, at the same time I admire all your photos..
thanks for dropping by at my humble blog and thanks for the banana fritters recipe too.
What a perfect description, Ellie. Caramel Chicken. Indeed it is, and it looks absolutely delicious!
What an interesting recipe! It looks so yummy and chicken is something I often eat.
Caramel chicken is definite top on the list for my grandsons! I like no fuss food!
I've seen a recipe for caramel chicken before and really wanted to give it a try. Great photos. I'd have to say my inspiration comes from Rick Bayless. He's so passionate about fresh flavors, authentic Mexican.
it looks so shiny ! although I'm not a big fan when it comes to supermarket chicken, I'll definitely try this recipe with chicken that we've just bought from the country side.
I do notice that Bill Granger uses quite a lot of Asian elements in many of his recipes... I have been to Sydney 3 times in the last 6 months and have been to Bills all three times...I am still trying to validate whether I like his food there but I have used cooked from his book a few times and the recipes are a breeze to cook.
I like Bill Granger for his simple chic recipes, and mostly Nigella Lawson for reminding me cooking is really no sweat. But the cooks who inspired me most are all the fellow bloggers, for sharing a slice of their lives and recipes and more often, interesting insights.
I have every single one of these ingredients in my kitchen right now. I can't wait to make this! As for inspirations, I love the simple flavors of Giada and Bobby Flay's innovativeness. I hope I can be so creative one day!
I've made this countless times, and absolutely love it. I add cashews to it though as I like to have a 'crunch' to the dish. Am a massive Bill fan, met him last year and almost burst with excitement. :P
You're inspiring me! Wow!
Looks delicious but best of all,fast & easy. Will have to try. Thanks
Delicious bowl. Love that chicken and rice.
I'm a bit of a Bill fan too ;0)
Chicken looks great, must look his books out at the weekend to find some similar inspiration.
I've made something like this before but with tofu. I love the sweet-salty sticky quality of the sauce. I'm definitely going to have to try your version!
So simple Ellie...love the flavours and the colour too.
The recipe reminds me of Chicken Teriyaki. The addition of black pepper must have made the chicken very aromatic. Yum!!
Very simple indeed! The combination of many wonderful flavours and textures can be mazaing but sometimes a few simple but yet powerful ingredients will make a great dish too. Sometimes we need to get back to basics =)
Thighs are my favourite part of the chicken and they look so succulent and juicy in your photos. I like the sound of this recipe very much. Your serving suggestion is exactly how I'd eat it - with rice and some kind of green vegetable - simple and perfect!
Gorgeous! This is really similar to what Mister's auntie has shown me.I used pork instead. So yummy!
Laura Calder springs through the kitchen when she had her session here in KL. She's nice!
I liked Nigella Lawson many many years ago. But I don't know now. Since I'm shifted towards world of pastry and cakes, I'm inspired by Pierre Herme, Hidemi Sugino, Sadaharu Aoki and all the Japanese pastry chefs..
I don't think I have tried caramel chicken. I would love to try it some day.
This looks delicious Ellie.
I love Laura Calder too and love her cooking shows. I also like Bill Granger as well, but I would have to say that the people who inspire me the most are Ina Garten and Nigella Lawson. Neither are trained chefs, but both are unashamedly passionate about good unfussy food. Both also have an easy grace in the kitchen too, which I admire.
oo nice one Ellie- would love this as an easy weeknight dish- with some flash fried beans and garlic perhaps?! on second thoughts, can you come over and cook it for me please?!
Love your pics and I like the idea that the kitchen should not be a stressful place. Thanks for sharing -- I won't forget that tip.
Oh wow, that looks SO fabulous Ellie!
Yummy caramel chicken! Gorgeous photos of a simple dish :D
Haha! I love simple recipes and dishes, too, with my busy schedule nowadays. The dish looks so appetizing!
Yup, I love Laura Calder too! You know that, right? Haha! Michael Smith isn't too shabby, too. =)
I can use this for my bento project. :D
I gather my inspirations from everywhere but mostly my mom.
It looks wonderful. I love Bill's dishes too...
Beautiful yum yum :)
Talking about people who inspire me... hmmm quite a long list I have ...you are one of them.. :D
Love to simplicity and beauty of your cooking!
I love simple and easy to cook dishes....just like this one. Love the shiny look of the chicken.
Oh wow this looks amazingly good, i ve never tried caramel chicken before..i may have to!!
Looks so nice and sounds delicious. I find inspiration from Donna Hay. Her cookbooks and magazine recipes are nice and easy to follow without being simplistic and her photos are superb.
Fabulous and fabulously simple! This looks really, really tasty. I love Bill Granger's books and his no nonsense approach to cooking.
What gorgeous photos. I like Laura Calder's style too. And the music in the background. I guess the Barefoot Contessa inspires me the most, but she uses too much salt and fat for our lifestyle. I don't let that bother me though. She is so relaxed in her entertaining style and I've learned a lot.
This is my first visit to your blog. I'm off now to look around now. Love your blog's name. Have you ever met him?
Sam
Veramente delizioso il tuo blog, ciao torno volentieri a trovarti di nuovo qui al tuo blog
un abbraccio
This looks fantastic! I love the sweet/salty combo. I have been inspired by so many fantastic chefs, but lately I'm most grateful to Ming Tsai, whose style has lead me to be fearless in combing flavors. He made nothing off limits. And I'm so lucky to live near his awesome restaurant Blue Ginger!
the color of the chicken looks so tempting and with a bowl of white rice, who can resist?
i agree, bill granger's recipes are so great in so many ways. love caramel, with chicken, a no-brainer :)
I just posted my chicken curry recipe. How I appreciate your recipe. The simpleness and sweetness :)
Sticky sweet spicy chicken is a weakness of mine. I have to start using fish sauce. I know its used alot in asian cooking. Is this sorta how they make orange chicken? but with orange peels?
You are my inspiration when I want something interesting yet familiar, something fancy yet no-fuss.
As for others, I'm inspired by Alton Brown (he made cooking less scary for technical person) and Peter Reinhart (he opened my eyes to the wonders of bread baking starting from the no-knead bread).
I love chicken and your delicious caramel chicken can makes me eat more rice :)
Yummy, this looks amazing! I don't eat or cook with sugar anymore (since going Paleo) do you think honey would work as a substitute? Hope all is well with you, your pictures are amazing as usual. Makes me want to get my camera out and start practicing again!
@ Hannah: I am very well, thank you. You can drfinitely replace the sugar with honey.
Caramel and chicken! What is there not to love?!
yes caramelized chiken is a real mouth watering dish !! yumm yumm
Yum! I saw the words "caramel" and "chicken" and I was in. I love Nigella and Jamie - their approach to food has inspired me.
Sounds so good :) I never thought that chicken and caramel can be in combination :))
This is incredible :-) I love bill today, he makes everything sound fresh and easy!
I'm always up for anything caramelised! Perfect with a bowl of rice!
Love this - it's actually very Caribbean!
xox
Your dishes look yum ... loved the presentation of the food ! good work
you can view some of my dishes on http://kitchensojourn.blogspot.com ! i would be really happy if you follow it :)
Love the sound of caramel chicken Ellie :) Many chefs have influenced my cooking, sometimes I think I'm easily swayed but one chef made a huge impact on my cooking style.... good ol' Jamie Oliver., I still think he keeps it all fresh & quick & local & very, very tasty with a healthy international flavour to all his cooking. So., I guess I'm still all these years later.... a Jamie fan still.
This is definitely my style of comfort food. Delicious!
Sounds delicious Ellie! I'll have to try this :-)
It looks really good!
This looks wonderful Ellie! I'm definitely trying this... My husband will love it.
And one of the chefs who inspires me is.. you!!
When I saw this, I knew immediately that I would be having that for dinner (so it was a good thing it was friday and I had time!) It was a delicious meal and I loved it! My poor roommates had a hard time with the smell of the fish sauce, but I told them to get over it, because the taste of the dish was so good! I will definitely be making it again!
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