Vietnamese Roasted Crispy Chicken

In Hawaii (Maui) where I'm currently residing, when you are talking what kind of foods we eat here as locals, we do tend to side on the Asian side of the cuisine tracks. Though recently, there's a lot of Euro influenced restaurants, and that Bistro Feel is here, there's nothing better than going into some Asian restaurant or eatery, be it Chinese, Japanese, Korean or a place that serves all of them. I love Thai, Filipino, and drum roll please.............Vietnamese food!

Roasted chicken Vietnamese, or Ga Ro Ti, check this out! Easy to make, easy to eat. 

INGREDIENTS

9 chicken thighs, skin on, the bone removed

(To de-bone a chicken thigh, use a boning knife, make slits on either side of the thigh, the back side of it not the skin side, pinch the thigh folding it in half skin side towards you, using the knife, carefully slice on the side of the bone, keeping bone outside of the knife)

POACHING LIQUID:

1/4 C. coriander stems
3 inch ginger sliced
6 mushrooms sliced
2 cloves garlic sliced
1 small sweet Maui Onion sliced thinly
3 hot small red chili peppers
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
5 tbsp. Nuoc Cham (fish sauce)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. sea salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. Schezuan peppercorns
1 stalk celery chopped
1 small carrot peeled and chopped
1 stalk lemon grass chopped

VIETNAMESE HONEY GLAZE

2 1/2 tbsp. vinegar
5-6 tbsp of organic honey (real honey)
5-6 tbsp of lime juice
1 tbsp dark soy sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium roasting pan, fry up the onion, carrot, celery, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, chilies and the lemongrass.

2. Add in the sugar and stir it up after that add in 1/3 cup of chicken broth and the other ingredients. (More broth may be needed if no broth add water)

3. Continue to cook as the liquid reduces, and the sugar will turn to a glaze, so the chicken will become...glazy.

4. Keep simmering low heat for around 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 400 deg F

6. Take the chicken out of the poaching liquid, place chicken onto another baking sheet lined with foil.

7. Let the chicken rest a few minutes then brush the Vietnamese Honey Glaze over the chicken, and roast for about 12 minutes or until the chicken gets crispy.

Serve with cooked rice, Jasmine is good rice, or any starch you choose.

Nuoc Cham is a Vietnamese style fish sauce, if you can't get that, buy Patis the fish sauce of the Philippines.