Spicy Honey Chicken with Raisins and Nuts - Sri Lankan Style
Serves - 4
Ingredients:
2 whole medium sized Chicken Breast (4 pieces after being
skinned and boned approx. 500 gms)
1 small tender Cob of Corn (125 gms after shucking or
decorning the cob)
5 Table Spoons of Pure Bees Honey
15 ~ 20 Red Onion (about 150 ~ 200 gms)
50 gms Garlic (more can be added if you like)
50 gms Ginger (more can be added if you like)
2 large ripe but firm Red Tomato
10 Green Chili each about 2" in size and somewhat
straight
50 gms Black Sultanas
50 gms Cashew nuts
50 gms Peanuts (optional).
½ Tea Cup Tomato puree or 4 spoons sauce
2 ~ 3 Teaspoons Light Soy sauce or as you wish
2 slices Half Ripe Pineapple - sufficient to make ½ Teacup
of juice (optional - if preferred for taste).
2½ Teaspoons Roasted Red Chili Powder (pieces can be also used - but check the spicy).
1 Teaspoon Raw Coriander Powder
1 Teaspoon Tabasco (optional gives a nice punch, flavor).
2 Table Spoons Butter
¼ Tea Cup Vegetable or Olive Oil
1 Tea Cup Vegetable Oil for frying Cashew nuts and Sultana
2 Large Medium Ripe Limes
1 Tea Cup Chicken Stock either Homemade natural or made of a
Stock Cube
Salt or to taste
1½ Teaspoons Pepper or according to taste
1 Teaspoon Vinegar
Gotukola Stems or any other green stem like veg for garnish,
(prefer Gotukola as it has a very unusual unique taste and texture and crunch
to it).
Method:
* Pressure Cook or Steam till soft, then shuck or decorn the
Corn Cob and set aside to cool and drain.
* Grind half the garlic and ginger into a paste and set aside,
finely chop the rest and also set aside for later use.
* Take ¼ Cup Tomato Puree or 2 spoons sauce, (You can also use
Heinz Garlic and Chili Sauce for this dish or any other garlic and chilli sauce or paste ).
* Squeeze and extract the juice out of the 2 slices Half Ripe
Pineapple add the 2 ~ 3 Teaspoons Light Soy sauce to it, now combine the garlic
and ginger paste and stir in 4 Table Spoons of Pure Bees Honey, adding the 1
Teaspoon of Raw Coriander Powder, 2½ Teaspoons Roasted Red Chili Powder and the
1 Teaspoon Tabasco hot sauce as well, now add a little part of the salt and
pepper (make sure you check the saltiness as soy sauce is salty and please
adjust accordingly), add juice of 1 full squeezed lime, then stir all of these
so they are all well combined and taste it, it should taste hot, salty, sour,
sweet and a slight hidden bitterness as well.
* Now Pour this mixture over the 4 pieces of chicken breast
that you've skinned and boned, bit by bit and gently massage it into the
chicken so it absorbs deep, you may use a fork to pierce and puncture the meat
a little if you wish but that's not really necessary, as resting time will
allow it to marinade sufficiently. Now cover the chicken and rest it for at
least 45 minutes in a semi freezer or fridge to season and marinate.
* Next step, at the end of 45 minutes, Chop the 2 large ripe
Red Tomato to ½" size cubes.
Slit the 10 Green Chili's length wise down 4 ways. Gather
the cleaned and prepped Red Onions.
Gather the balance separate finely Chopped Garlic and
Ginger. Now take the chicken breast and drain off the marinate mix off just
leaving a little on. Keep the remaining drained off mix for later.
Heat up a wok with a little of the ¼ Tea Cup of Vegetable or
Olive Oil set aside for this, set your flame so you get a medium heat going and
gently add the Chopped Garlic and Ginger, allowing it to temper for a few
seconds till you get a nice combined aroma of both, then add the cubed Tomato
and let the juices of the tomato combine with those two for a few seconds, soon
as you notice the juices of the tomato rapidly evaporating, gently slide in the
pieces of the drained off chicken breast. Add a little more oil if need be and
cook no more than 4 minutes on each side until slightly golden brown.
Take the slightly golden brown chicken off the heat and out
of the wok while leaving the remaining gravy in the wok and place/rest the
pieces of chicken in tin foil or some container and cover it so that it cooks
in its own searing heat for about 10 minutes.
* Now turn down the heat on your wok (a little
more oil can be added if need) and add in the 15 ~ 20 Red Onion and the Green Chili and
let it slow cook in the remaining juices and oil for no more than 3 minutes.
Completely drain and remove the Red Onion and the Green Chili from Wok into a
separate bowl and set aside as well. Do not wash out the wok but add all
remaining marinade from the chicken, all remaining sauce and tomato puree as
well and all but a few teaspoons of chicken stock in and turn up the heat till
it’s simmering, now add the Chicken back in, immediately turn down the heat and
slow cook for another 10 minutes with lid on.
* While that’s going on, separately melt the 2 Spoons of
Butter in a fresh shallow pan on a very slow fire and put in the Corn with a little
pepper and a tiny squeeze of lime juice, let it slow cook till the corn absorbs
the butter and lime, once its fully absorbed and near getting slightly golden
brown add the few teaspoons of chicken stock you saved earlier and let that
also absorb, set aside once done.
Now heat up the 1 Tea Cup of Vegetable Oil for frying cashew
nuts and sultana in a small deep frying pan, first fry the Cashew
Nuts and set aside, then do the same with the Sultana as well.
* Take another dry pan and slow toast the peanuts, I usually
use the Chinese jumbo peanuts but for those of you who are in Sri Lanka, you
can get our normal toasted peanuts from a gram shop as the flavor of our ground
nuts are far superior to the Chinese variety, make sure you get rid of the skin
and put it on a sieve to get rid of any sand from the street method of
toasting.
* Now, time to combine the Onion and Green Chili with the
Chicken and turn off the heat completely letting it rest a few more minutes.
* Finally drop the chopped stems of Gotukola in to a small
dish pour on the teaspoon of vinegar, add a small squeeze of fresh lime and
tiny dash of salt if you wish and the remaining spoon of Bees Honey, then chop
up the deep fried Sultana and mix it lightly in, this will be your garnish and
will also be like a vinaigrette of sorts to be sprinkled on at the last, just
before serving. The secret to the flavors in this dish is to keep everything
warm yet separate till the last moment. When you are ready to serve, mix in the
buttered corn with the chicken first, then the nuts and finally sprinkle on the
Sultana and Gotukola mix.
* You are now all set to taste all the individual flavors you chew on with each bite.
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