“Old Godmother” Oven-braised Chicken
A handful of Asian pantry/fridge staples turns chicken thighs into a delicious, weeknight-quick dinner.
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp
- 1 tablespoon finely minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, about 1/2 pound each
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- olive or canola oil
- 1 or 2 scallions, green parts only, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch optional
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix together the sauce ingredients, through sesame oil.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Put the chicken thighs into a lightly oiled baking dish. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Take chicken out of the oven and ladle the sauce around it—it should come no more than half way up on the thighs. Return to oven and bake another 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches at least 160ºF. Remove from oven, plate chicken and garnish with scallions.
- Finish the sauce. You may serve the chicken just like this, simply discarding the sauce. But to up your dinner game, decant the sauce into a small saucepan and thicken it with a little cornstarch: mix 1 or 2 teaspoons of cornstarch with a little cold water, stir in some of the hot sauce liquid, then stir the cornstarch mixture into the sauce and heat gently until it’s clear and thicker—you want it slightly thick, not hideously globby. Now you can spoon this wonderful sauce over cooked rice—or, as we did, kasha.
Kitchen Notes
We’ve got nothing, except get some Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp. You will really, really like it.