Chicken in caramel sauce
It’s amazing how intertwined Asian cuisines are. Southeast Asian countries have different versions of noodle soups, for instance. Chinese influence, definitely — the Chinese have been trading with various Asian countries for centuries. In fact, in the Philippines, the Chinese have been doing business even before the Spaniards arrived.
But the Chinese influence aside, the similarities in the local cuisines are endless, the variations are interesting but the differences even more so. For instance, while the Japanese teriyaki and the Vietnamese chicken in caramel sauce may appear similar, and even taste somewhat similar to the untrained diner, two dishes cannot be more unlike. While both have that sweet-salty flavor, Japanese teriyaki is sweetened with sake and mirin and salted with soy sauce, the Vietnamese chicken caramel is sweetened with sugar and salted with fish sauce. The only thing they have in common is the ginger. Still and all, if you’re a fan of chicken teriyaki, chances are, you’ll like this chicken in caramel sauce.
Serves 4 to 5.
Ingredients :
- 10 to 12 large boneless chicken thighs, skin on
- 1 medium-sized onion or 2 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
- 1/2 c. of patis (fish sauce)
- 2/3 c. of sugar
- a stalk of lemongrass
- a thumb-sized piece of ginger
- lots of freshly ground black pepper
Make the caramel sauce:
Melt the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Off the fire, pour in the fish sauce while stirring. Bring back to the fire, continue stirring until smooth. Add the sliced onion or shallots and lots of black pepper. Simmer for about 3 minutes.
Cut off the roots of the lemongrass. From the base, cut a one-inch piece (the light-colored part); discard the fibrous leaves or use for making tea. Crush the lemongrass and finely chop.
Peel and grate the ginger.
Place the chicken thighs, skin side down, on a heated non-stick frying pan that is large enough to hold all the chicken thighs in a single layer. Cook over high heat until the skin starts to render fat. Pour in the caramel sauce, add the ginger and lemongrass and simmer for about 20 minutes. Lift the chicken pieces from the fatty sauce, slice and serve with rice.
Note: I used yellow ginger (turmeric), hence, the bright yellow color of the chicken meat. If the more common variety of ginger is used, the cooked dish will look even more similar to chicken teriyaki.
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Hi Connie can I use Tumeric powder instead of fresh yellow ginger.Thanks.
Hello!
I was wondering what I can use to substitute for the lemongrass? They don’t carry it very often at my local grocery store.
Thank you!
Luz, turmeric IS yellow ginger. I suggest the more common (and more pungent) ginger instead. The color is secondary; you want the spice.
Romina, none that I know of. You can buy crushed lemongrass in jars.
I’m sorry but where do you put the lemon grass and ginger, with the caramel sauce as it simmers or with the chicken when you fry?
Oops, sorry, let me edit that. Was in too much of a hurry to post.
naku, mukhang masarap na naman ito, ah. My husband is into jerky lately and bought his own jerky maker. I concoted something like this and used beef, wow, ang sarap lumabas, kaso naka-limutan ko na kung ano-ano ang pinaglalagay ko. I will try do this this exact ration and use chicken also, and make jerky.. haha, tiyak ko its going to be a hit.
Ebba, natuwa nga ako sa recipe na ito. So easy! Then with the first mouthful, my younger daughter exclaimed, “Ang sarap!” Of course, she initially complained about the smell of patis while I was making the caramel sauce. But by the time the caramel sauce and the chicken were simmering, the patis smell was gone and there was just this wonderful aroma…
Good morning po!
I stumbled onto this site just yesterday while racking my brains on what to make for dinner. Hi! I am a “Bridgette Jones-esque” employee just bitten by the cooking bug.
I am very thankful you put up this site. The lumpiang hubad saved the day yesterday.
Hope to correspond with you regularly. I hope to try out the other recipes and tips soon!
Cheers! &:-)
Hi Connie, this recipe was perfect for a weeknight dinner! I used palm sugar and it tasted divine, thanks for posting it
thanks for telling me about the patis, kasi concerned ako na baka medio may “scent” pag-natapos na yung jerky.. eh pulos kano pa naman ang mga ka-co-workers ng spouse ko.. and they are field personnel.. alam mo na, they are frank and brutal on giving comments..Anyway, one brand of patis that I prefer… (just a little bit better than Pinoy) is the Taste of Thai.. hindi siya fishy and just a drop really makes a difference, kaya lang mahirap hanapin sa mga regular market dito, I have to order online. Thanks ulit.
i just finished making this for lunch. yummmmmmmm. better than teriyaki chicken! thanks Connie.
hi ms connie!
i made this dish last night, kaso i ended up using teriyaki sauce, kasi namuo yung sugar with fish sauce, na ginawa ko parang naging candy. ano kaya yung mali ko? is there a way to salvage that candied fish sauce, should it happen again the next time i try?
thanks in advance
this is really good, i cooked this for our lunch today, though medyo kulang yung sugar na nilagay namin the taste of the ginger saves the lackness of sugar! im glad i found this site…and btw i also tried baking your macaroon recipe…and it’s also a success! thanks and keep it up!
Pwede ko din po siguro isubstitute ang honey instead of sugar. pwede nga po kaya?
Honey won’t caramelize.
Hi Miss Sassy!
First of all, let me just say that i love your recipes!
Anyway, I have a novice cook question for question for you: can I use chicken tenderloins instead for this recipe. That’s the only kind I have on hand right now
Allison, skinless won’t work.
hi connie!
this is the second time that i did this recipe and it never failed me. i used chix breast fillet though since they only sell skinless chix breast fillet at the groceries. i was just a bit careful not to overcook them since the chicken tend to be hard.
i also used bottled lemongrass and sweetened ginger since my husband doesnt like ginger so much =) but still besides all this revisions it still turned out very good!
thanks again connie!