Chicken with Miso, Ginger, and Lime

Yotam Ottolenghi is well reputed for his Middle Eastern style meals, but this Japanese inspired meal with white miso, ginger and lime is delicious, sticky, tangy, savoury and full of flavour. It's another recipe which showcases Yotam's talent by combining delicious Japanese flavours to produce a showstopper of a dish which in my opinion is restaurant worthy. Children will also love this dish, what child or teenager doesn't love a tasty and tender chicken leg, and the flavours aren't too overpowering. The tantalising aroma wafting through your home when this dish is cooking will have everybody excited about what you have cooked, so be ready for the rush.

This dish will be lovely, whether you serve it warm from the oven, or if you cook it in advance the day before, refrigerate it overnight, and then take it from the refrigerator about an hour before you are ready to serve it. I would still warm it up slightly.

I'm always prepared to cook an Asian style meal, here's how I do it:

Every now and then I have a real craving, for dishes with Asian flavours like this one, and it's generally not too hard to create a meal to satisfy this craving with a well-stocked pantry of Asian sauces and herbs. I always have jars of Honey and Maple syrup, white miso in the refrigerator, and just in case, red chillies in the freezer, but large red chillies are always growing in the garden in Summer. Spring onions are growing in a sunny pot, fresh ginger is growing and is also in the freezer, and frozen chicken legs are a given. 

That's this recipe catered for except for the fresh coriander. Unless I am very well organised to do an early Autumn planting of coriander, which I wasn't this year, it is a difficult herb to grow in the tropics. When I decided to cook this dish, I was at the tail end of a chest infection, and just didn't feel like another supermarket trip, so I substituted some ground coriander powder into the spice component, and I didn't miss the fresh herb. However, if serving this to guests, and this dish certainly is guest worthy, I would include the fresh stuff for presentation and superior flavour. It's also citrus season, and I had been gifted some beautiful fresh limes so that was very helpful.

In Australia, and in particular in Sunny Queensland, we really enjoy our Asian style dishes, which isn't something I have been as aware of when travelling through Europe, particularly France, or even the United States, however that was quite a few years ago, so I stand corrected if that has changed. In France, I couldn't find many Asian sauces at all at the supermarket near us. Trying to ask for Fish Sauce or Soy Sauce in my broken French was rather hilarious.

Asian ingredients that I like to have on hand in the pantry:

This is list of the Asian sauces, oils, spices and pastes, I like to have on hand in my pantry, just in case, so I can whip up Asian dishes as my fancy takes me. It's not totally comprehensive but on a day-to-day basis they are what I use when the craving for some Asian food takes me by surprise:

Oyster Sauce, Fish Sauce, Organic Tamari Soy Sauce, Dark and Light Soy Sauce, Dumpling Soy Sauce, Sesame oil, Sunflower oil, Sesame paste, White Miso paste, Rice Wine Vinegar, Honey, Authentic Maple Syrup, Mirin, Kecap Manis, Char Sui Sauce Sesame seeds, Ground coriander, Homemade Sweet Chill Jam, fresh garlic, Stem Ginger in Syrup and Rice and Noodles.

Do you have any other Asian ingredients to add to this list that you always keep on hand?

INGREDIENTS:

Serves six

Equipment: a high-sided baking dish (about 24 x 36 cm), 2 large mixing bowls

8 chicken legs (skin on and bone in), skin scored a few times (1.4 kg)

2 tbsp sunflower oil

2 1/2 tbsp mirin

2 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

80 g white miso paste

4 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated (30 g)

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 lime

40 g coriander stems, cut into 6 cm lengths

2 red chillies, sliced in half lengthways and deseeded (if you want a milder heat)

10 spring onions: slice 8 in half lengthways, finely slice 2 of them to serve, (120 g)

salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 deg. C fan forced

In a large bowl, place the oil and the salt, then slather the legs in the oil and salt all over and leave until ready to use.

Browning off the chicken legs:

In a large frying pan, on a medium heat, sear half the chicken legs for 4-5 minutes each side. they should be golden brown. Then do the same with the rest of them. Set them aside, covered.

Prepare the delicious sauce:

In a large bowl, add the mirin, maple syrup, soy sauce, miso, ginger, garlic, lime strips, and lime juice. 

Combine the sauces and juice with a whisk, and then add the chicken legs, stir well to coat them.

Baking dish preparation:

Place the 8 halved spring onions, the coriander stems, and the chillies into the high-sided baking dish, (24 cm x 36 cm), and arrange the chicken legs on top, skin side up. Cover the dish tightly with a sheet of alfoil.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Carefully remove the foil, turn the chicken legs over, and return the baking dish to the oven for another 30 minutes, uncovered. Halfway through the cooking time, turn the legs back over and baste a couple of times. After 30 minutes, the chicken will be golden brown, and the bed of spring onions and chillies will be beautifully soft.

To Serve:

Place a chicken leg on each plate, and add some of the coriander, chilli and spring onions around it.  Drizzle with remaining sauce from the dish, and then garnish with a sprinkle of sliced spring onions.

I served this with some brown rice for Mr. HRK and moi, and a suitable green vegetable such as broccoli or green peas, just because I am passionate about serving up vegetables with a meal whenever I can. However, stir fried vegetables would be perfect, or fried rice, whatever is on hand and delicious and healthy. You all know by now how I love Fried rice.

My Cooking Notes:

• There are two options for presentation when baking this chicken dish. This depends on whether you want to serve the chicken legs as sticky finger food, which children will love, and adults eating in a more casual setting will also enjoy, or serve them with lots of yummy, sticky sauce. By following this recipe and dipping the legs in the sauce and completely covering them, then adding them to the pan, they will be sticky but perfect for finger food.
• I used the above method at first, but there was still some sauce left. I knew this sauce would be absolutely delicious given the ingredients, so I couldn't bear to waste it, and covered the legs in the baking dish with the remainder of the sauce. I'm so glad I did. There was lots of delicious sauce to serve over the cooked chicken legs.
• Instead of using fresh coriander, I didn't have any as I was feeling too unwell for a special trip up to the supermarket, I used ground coriander in the sauce, which was still a delicious option. If I was serving this for dinner guests, I would definitely have some fresh coriander to add to the vegetable base in the pan., and for a garnish as well. But then beware, some people can't tolerate coriander, personally I love it.
• This recipe calls for 8 legs for 6 people, but that's playing it safe, as there's always someone who can eat two legs, and there just might be an extra person dropping in for dinner. I always like to have some extra food prepared, just in case. Don't you?

Happy weekend cooking, 

Warm wishes,

Pauline