Honey soy chicken with garlic rice and cucumber slaw
- Prepare
- over 2 hours
- Cook
- 1 to 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 4
- Dietary
- Dairy-free
Serve these sticky, sweet and salty chicken legs with jasmine rice and a crisp Asian slaw when you have people over. The chicken is marinated for flavour, then basted as it cooks for a glossy finish that tastes as good as it looks.
Each serving provides 822 kcal, 46.9g protein, 83.7g carbohydrate (of which 17.2g sugars), 32.8g fat (of which 7.5g saturates), 2.1g fibre and 4.73g salt.
By Justin Tsang
Ingredients
For the marinade
- 4 whole chicken legs (thigh and drumstick)
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp honey
- ½ tsp white pepper
- 100ml/3½fl oz chicken stock or water
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
For the honey soy glaze
For the pan sauce
For the rice
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 10g/⅓oz fresh root ginger, finely chopped
- 340g/11¾oz jasmine rice, uncooked weight
- 420ml/¾ pint chicken stock
For the slaw
- handful ice
- 1 cucumber, julienned
- large handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
- 2–3 spring onions, thinly sliced
- 1 lime, juice only
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 bird’s-eye chillies, sliced
- pinch salt
To serve
- chilli oil or chilli sauce, to taste
Method
Put the chicken legs in a large bowl and add the marinade ingredients. Mix well so the chicken is fully coated. Cover and marinate for 4 hours, or overnight if possible.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
Put a rack over a roasting tray. Put the chicken legs on the rack and pour any remaining marinade into the tray. Add the chicken stock or water to the tray.
Roast the chicken for 20 minutes.
For the glaze, mix the dark soy sauce and honey in a small bowl.
Remove the chicken from the oven and brush with the glaze. Cover the chicken loosely with kitchen foil. Reduce the oven temperature to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3 and cook for a further 35–40 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the rice. Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes, or until fragrant but not browned.
Add the rice and cook for 1 minute, stirring to coat in the oil. Pour in the chicken stock and season with a pinch of salt.
Cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 18 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave the lid on until ready to serve.
To make the slaw, fill a bowl with iced water. Add the cucumber, coriander and spring onions and leave for 15 minutes.
Drain well using a colander and return the vegetables to the bowl. Add the lime juice, sesame oil, sesame seeds, sliced chillies and a pinch of salt. Toss to combine.
Once the chicken is cooked, leave it to rest for at least 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes.
Pour the cooking juices from the oven tray into a bowl and skim off as much fat as possible. Stir in the dark soy sauce, honey, salt and MSG (if using) to the remaining juices to make the pan sauce.
Spread the rice onto a large serving plate. Put the chicken legs on top and add the slaw. Spoon some of the pan sauce over the chicken and serve the remaining sauce at the table. Drizzle with chilli oil or chilli sauce to taste.
Recipe tips
The chicken can be marinated overnight for deeper flavour.
If you prefer a milder slaw, remove the seeds from the chillies before slicing.
To make this recipe gluten free, replace the soy sauce with tamari and make sure the stock you use doesn't contain gluten (or use water instead).
