Vietnamese Coconut Caramel Chicken Recipe
Caramel chicken may sound like an odd combination, but this recipe is based on a Vietnamese dish called Ga Kho, and it rocks the sweet/salty savoury vibe that I love. Coconut water and fish sauce help provide the savoury notes, whilst palm sugar gives this dish its signature sweet elements. Of course, I add a bit of spice too!
Servings 2 Servings
Calories 631kcal
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 400 g Chicken Thigh Meat 14oz
- ½ tablespoon Fish Sauce
- ½ teaspoon Rice or White Vinegar
- ⅛ teaspoon White Pepper
- 1 Medium-Large Echallion or Banana Shallot 50g
- 35 g Ginger 1 Thumb Sized Piece
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 2-4 Thai Red Chilli Peppers add more or less as you desire
- 2 tablespoon Cooking Oil
- Spring Onions for Garnish
- 1 teaspoon Cornflour Optional (Cornstarch in the US)
- 1 teaspoon Water Optional
For the Caramel Sauce:
- 50 g Chopped Palm Sugar or Jaggery 3 Packed Tablespoons
- 175 ml Coconut Water ¾ Cup
- 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Rice or White Vinegar
- ⅛ teaspoon MSG
Instructions
- Cut the chicken thigh meat into bite-sized pieces and toss it into a bowl, then add the fish sauce, vinegar and white pepper and allow the chicken to marinate whilst you prepare the remaining ingredients.
- Cut the shallot in half, peel it and then cut it into very thin half-moon shapes.
- Peel the ginger and then cut it into batons as small as you can.
- Peel the garlic cloves and then slice them as thinly as you can.
- Cut the chilli peppers into thin slices.
- Heat a small 20cm or 8" nonstick frying pan over a medium-low heat, add the palm sugar and allow it to slowly caramelise, stirring it occasionally if required. You want this to become very dark, but not burnt, the flavours become more complex and less sweet the darker the caramel gets. This will take between 5 and 8 minutes. You can tell if the caramel burns if you start to sense an acrid, bitter aroma.
- Turn off the heat and carefully pour in the coconut water; it will splutter and bubble, then stir to combine. If you are using a gas or induction hob, you can just turn off the heat; if you are using a normal electric hob, remove it from the heat.
- Once the caramel has stopped bubbling return it to a low heat and cook gently for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove it from the heat again and add the fish sauce, vinegar and MSG for the caramel sauce and set aside.
- Heat a wok over a high heat and when it is shimmering, add half of the oil and the sliced shallot and stir-fry for 1 minute.
- Add the garlic, ginger and Thai chilli peppers and stir fry for another minute, then remove the vegetables from the pan.
- Return the wok to a high heat, add the remaining tablespoon of oil, and then add the chicken in a single layer on the base of the wok and allow it to sit for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the stir-fried vegetables and pour over the caramel sauce, stir to combine then reduce the heat to low and allow to cook for 10-12 minutes and serve immediately garnished with the spring onions.
If you want to thicken the sauce a little mix the cornflour and water together and stir it through the sauce for 1 minute before you serve.
Video
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 631kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 52g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 23g | Cholesterol: 244mg | Sodium: 1518mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 32g
