In every job that must be done there is an element of fun. You find the fun and Snap! the jobs a game. Mary Poppins had it right and so we look for the fun in our weekend chores. As we head out into the hoards of people doing their weekend chores, we have the pleasure of knowing there is a reward at the end of the trip. My husband and I have a favorite little Asian “fast food” place we pop into when we are running the gauntlet of stores that constitute the weekly food shopping trip.
I call it the gauntlet because we have grown fond of certain foods we can only get from certain markets so we map out a path from one store to the next. To reward ourselves for shopping well done, we order a platter of grilled chicken thighs with a spicy glaze, brown rice and Sumi Salad all washed down with a glass of passion fruit iced tea. The joy of eating makes wrestling with the weekend traffic crowds worth while!
Every time we have this lunch, which makes us so very happy, David asks me if we can make this at home? And then I forget…..until now. All the planets have finally aliened! It’s time to recreate the spicy chicken and the crunchy cabbage salad. Hmm….does this mean if I can make it at home, we need to find a new shopping reward lunch? Now that’s a job we can have fun with!
Spicy Glazed Chicken Thighs
For the glaze: Prepare the glaze by putting the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, Worcestershire sauce and Sambal in a medium saucepan.
Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 15 minutes. Set aside to glaze the spice rubbed chicken with during the grilling process.
Trim the fat from the chicken thighs with kitchen shears or a knife. I like using kitchen shears for trimming meats and vegetables, like artichokes.
For the rub: Mix the spice together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the spice rub over the chicken thighs and rub into the meat, to coat evenly. Arrange the chicken thighs on a platter to grill or the prepared baking sheet cover in foil if you are going to broil the chicken instead of grilling it. I like grilling for many reasons: Less pans to clean, nice grill marks and flavor and my husband does the cooking! Bonus!
To Grill: Preheat the grill to high heat. Grill smooth-side down, covered, until lightly charred, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and brush generously with the glaze.
Cook, covered, until charred and the thighs are just cooked through, another 3 to 4 minutes. Flip again, glaze, and cook uncovered about 1 minute. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and rest the chicken for a few minutes.
The combination of the spice rub with the glaze creates a beautiful lacquered finish on the chicken thighs. Spicy and slightly sweet, these are amazing little morsels atop the the brown rice. Success!
Slice the chicken into thin strips. Serve over Brown Rice with Sumi Salad. Did it taste exactly like our restaurant favorite? No, but it was darn close. Close enough to make us very happy right at home 🙂
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 -2 tablespoons Sambal Oelek (chili sauce) depending on your heat preference
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons five-spice powder
- 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
- For the glaze: Prepare the glaze by putting the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, Worcestershire sauce and Sambal in a medium saucepan.
- Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 15 minutes. Set aside to glaze the spice rubbed chicken with during the grilling process.
- Trim the fat from the chicken thighs with kitchen shears or a knife.
- For the rub: Mix the spice together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the spice rub over the chicken thighs and rub into the meat, to coat evenly. Arrange the chicken thighs on a platter to grill or the prepared baking sheet cover in foil to broil.
- To Grill: Preheat the grill to high heat. Grill smooth-side down, covered, until lightly charred, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and brush generously with the glaze. Cook, covered, until charred and the thighs are just cooked through, another 3 to 4 minutes. Flip again, glaze, and cook uncovered about 1 minute. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and rest the chicken for a few minutes.
- To Broil: Set an oven rack in the top position and preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Broil the chicken for 5 minutes on each side (for a total of 10 minutes). Remove the chicken from the oven and brush some of the glaze on the chicken; broil for 1 minute. Remove the chicken from the oven and turn over; brush the chicken with more glaze and broil for 1-2 minutes more, until the chicken is nicely browned.
- Slice the chicken into thin strips. Serve over Brown Rice with Sumi Salad.
Can’t wait to try these!
This looks delicious. I’m making this tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it turns out!