Sweet chilli chicken thighs!
Whether made with chicken or another meat, the dish is week night-easy, but it’s also the kind of recipe that you could happily serve for a party
The dish is a simple sauté-then-braise affair and the sauce is a simple chilli and soy mixture. Together, they make something so good and so versatile that the only right thing to do is to pull the recipe out regularly.
Whether made with chicken or another meat, the dish is week night-easy, but it’s also the kind of recipe that you could happily serve for a party – double it, if you’d like, and make a pile of rice to keep it company. It’s not fancy; it’s just what everyone wants.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil, or as needed
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped, rinsed and patted dry
- 1½ to 3 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, germ removed and crushed
- Fine sea salt
- ¼ cup (60 ml) white wine
- 8 chicken thighs, with or without skin and/or bones, patted dry
- Freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup (120 ml) Thai sweet chilli sauce
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (preferably French)
- 1 to 1½ teaspoons Sriracha (to taste)
- Sliced spring onions and crushed red pepper flakes, for serving (optional)
Method
1. In a heavy based pot that can go on the hob, warm 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger and garlic, season lightly with salt and cook, stirring, until they soften and are translucent not browned (about 5 minutes).
2. Add the white wine, increase heat and cook, stirring, until most of the wine evaporates (about 2 minutes). Again, don’t colour the onions. Transfer the ingredients to a bowl.
3. Return the pot to medium heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Place the thighs in the pot and brown on all sides, adding more oil if necessary. (If the thighs will be crowded, do them in two batches.) Discard the oil. If you’ve got burned bits stuck on the bottom of the pot, remove the chicken and scrub the pot, then return the chicken to it. Return the onion mixture to the pot, along with any accumulating juices, add the chilli and soy sauces, mustard and Sriracha and stir. Season lightly and put the lid on the pot.
4. Turn the heat down to low and cook the chicken, basting occasionally, for 30 minutes, or until it is opaque in the centre.
5. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and spoon over some sauce. Sprinkle with spring onions and pepper flakes. Serve the sauce separately.
STORING: Leftovers can be stored in the fridge
for up to three days.
SERVES: 4
- Sweet Chilli Chicken Thighs is excerpted from Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, published by Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, priced £27.99 (hardback). Available now.
Food for thought
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