Lemon grass Roast Chicken

 
In chicken, thighs are my fav & I love to cook with this tender meat. Yesterday I was craving for something new in chicken. I had a picture in mind of the colour & texture I wanted. I had no clue what to make & what to add. I opened the fridge & I saw some lemon grass lying in there. So I instantly decided to make use of this for my new experiment. BTW not all my experiment turns out good & I don't upload all the recipes in my blog. Only the best goes in here.

Last evening I met my below house Indian Neighbour in the swimming pool & this is how our conversations went on:
N: What were you cooking today? My god! the smell was so good & I just couldn't resist. 
Me: Today I made some chicken cutlets.  (I dint mention about this chicken because it was not yet rated by my hubby.)
N: I think you were baking also?
Me: Yes, I made some chocolate chips cookies for my son. 
N: Even my house was smelling of good food. My son's friend is around & he came up to me & asked if I was baking cookies? HEHEHEHE....
Me: hahahaha.. why don't you come over to have some cookies?
N: I am on a diet now orelse I would have loved to....

My hubby loves my food & however late he is, he will come home & have dinner. Last night he came home at 1am & I was very excited to serve him this new dish. The moment he came home he said hmmmm.... what have you cooked? The house smells so good! When he had it he was all thumbs up & praises about this dish. He had many questions like what dish is this? where did u get the recipe? what flavour is this?  & so on.. I simple smiled & said this was an experiment & was waiting for your feedback. My hubby is a big food critic & only when he says ultimate is when I upload the recipe in my blog. This recipe is simple & I have used very minimal ingredients. The flavours were exotic & the taste was ultimate. This is going to be one of my signature recipes & I loved the outcome of this.

Cooking time: 30 - 45 mins
Serves: 4 chicken lovers

Ingredients:

• 8 piece Chicken thighs
• 5 shallots chopped (Sambar Onions)
• 5 red dried chilli's
• 1 Tbspn minced garlic
• 1 Tbspn minced ginger
• 2 Tbspn chopped lemon grass
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 Tbspn sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp light soya sauce
• 1 Tspn honey
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tspn kashmiri red chili powder
• 1/4 Tspn black pepper powder
• 1 cup water or more if required.
• 3 Tbsp Oil
• salt as per taste
• coriander leaves to garnish

Directions:

1. wash the chicken thighs, drain water completely. Make some cut marks on the thighs & set aside.
2. Now combine shallots, lemon grass, red chili, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, sesame oil, soya sauce in a blender/ Mixer & make a course paste out of it.
3. Marinate the chicken well with this paste & set aside for at least 2 to 4 hours. I just set aside for 2 hours.
4. In a large flat pan, add 3 tbsp of oil & fry the chicken thighs on low flame, turning them over after every 2 minutes.
5. Once you see roast  marks on both sides of the chicken, add in a cup of water close lid & cook this on low flame for about 3 to 6 minutes. Keep sauteing in between.
6. The chicken also will start leaving some water & the sauce will get thicker as its cooking.
7. Now mix in lemon juice, salt, honey, pepper powder, chili powder to the chicken. Give it a good mix & keep frying in the sauce. Add extra water if required.
8. When you see fat separation & chicken is well cooked, turn off the flame & keep the pan covered.
9. After 10 minutes garnish the dish with fresh coriander leaves.

Note:

• I dint add coconut milk here but later added some coconut milk to half the portion of chicken, as my hubby likes some curry. The coconut milk gave a totally different taste to the dish.
• The dish tastes good as it is but if you like a little extra curry then only ad din the coconut milk.
• Slow cooking this is a key so make sure you cook this on low flame & keep the pan covered.