Some food is so delicious eaten outside you’re afraid that if you try to reproduce the recipe at home you’ll not be able to get the flavor and texture right and end up disappointed. These bits of crispy, sticky sweet & spicy Chicken have been my holy grail for years. They remind me of Summer, far away sunny holidays, of street food eaten too quickly and with the fingers. They are so perfect & hit all the taste buds spots that to be honest they always intimidated me. What if I couldn’t reproduce the experience, what if they don’t turn out as delicious as I remember them?

Fear not! It has taken some time, but I have now mastered this crazy delicious dish and can gladly share the experience with you! I have been on a quest for a simple enough recipe for a long time, and finally found it from this post. The cool part of this dish is that the chicken is first oven roasted in breadcrumbs which makes it moist inside & crispy outside, but for whoever is into these things; it’s also much healthier than its fried counterpart.

So grab your soy sauce & Sriracha and get ready for a delicious sunny treat!

Ingredients: 

• 500g boneless, skinless chicken legs (if you don’t have you can use breast  & cut them into same size bits)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1-2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup bread crumbs – If you have Panko* even better!

For the sauce:

• 1/4 cup low sodium soy
  sauce
• 1/4 cup brown syrup (you can use maple syrup or honey if you prefer)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce (I didn’t have hoisin sauce, so I simply made my own by following this basic recipe and added some cayenne pepper and 1 teaspoon corn starch to allow for thickening)
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 200C. Lightly oil an oven dish.
• Prepare 2 deep plates: 1 with seasoned breadcrumbs (salt & pepper), & one with the beaten eggs, working in batch, dip the chicken pieces in the egg first then toss in the breadcrumb plate until nicely coated
• Add chicken to the baking dish. Place into oven and bake until golden brown and crisp, about 15-20 minutes.
• meanwhile, In a saucepan, combine the soy sauce, crushed garlic, hoisin sauce, grated ginger and Sriracha and stir at medium heat until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes.
• Stir in chicken and gently toss to combine & serve immediately topped with thinly sliced red or green onions and sesame seeds. Serve with green string beans & olive oil roasted broccoli with thin slivers of garlic & a drizzle of lemon juice.

These are so addictive, you will not be able to stop. If by some insane turn of even you happen to have leftovers. They are perfect as well the day after, thinly sliced and tossed in a green salad with tahini & lemon dressing!

I’m so ready for summer, but this can help me wait!