chicken in spiced caramel sauce

i cooked again last weekend. especially since i was back at jellicoe..i could do something a bit more exciting.




this is not ayam masak kicap. eventho it looks like it.

this is a recipe which ....i would try when the parents are away..coz ..hahah it may look a lil bit experimental..eventhough it's easy actually. saying that, you really have to take care of this dish else..the whole effort may be to waste.

i tried this before with my friends. the original recipe is actually with fish. and i actually think it tastes better with fish, but last week i tried this again with chicken :)

the base is sugar.





which you need to heat. no double boiling stuff. direct heating..so therefore care needs to be taken. do it in a heavy pot/pan. the orginal recipe has it done in a claypot. the sugar gets clumpy and brownish soon enough.

then it gets gooey caramely. i think the heat should be lowered a bit..and by this time..if one is trying to take photos (like me!) while cooking..one should stop and jaga the caramel instead..so that it wont turn to carbon!




but the exciting part is yet to come. it happens quite fast..
and i really need to work on it so couldnt take any photos of the gorgeous bubbling sauce. once caramelised...remove the pan away from heat, and squirt or stir in the fish sauce. the sauce turns to a beautiful light brown sugar colour..



return the pan to low heat and gently boil for about couple minutes while stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remember low heat. then stir in the shallots, ginger, black pepper and lemongrass to sauce...and lastly the chicken or fish .



bring to a boil.
reduce the heat to low and cover the pan.
let it simmer...


then serve..with some stir-fried veg.


......................................................

the original recipe is known as ca kho to. fish simmered in caramel sauce.