Chili Bean Honey Roasted Chicken Thighs

I have a mission. To clean out my fridge of half used ingredients which are taking up space. Besides, these things get moldy after a while and it is really such a waste.

My freezer is also stuffed with odds and ends and I have trouble keeping track of what I have in there. Every time I want something, I would be rummaging through a whole lot of frozen things. I must get organised and not only that, I have to stop being a hoarder.

Yeah, I hoard chicken, beef, mutton and pork. When I see  plump and fresh chicken parts at the supermarket, I have the compulsion to buy because in my head, a whole lot of recipes come to mind. The same goes for beef - I see minced beef I want to make pasta sauce, I see minced lamb, I want to make shepherd's pie. You get the idea.

So I am starting with the two packets of chicken thighs that I picked up some two or three weeks ago (in spite of reminding myself to use up the frozen chicken in stock first). I now have a thing for chicken thighs. They are meaty and juicy and relatively inexpensive. These days I don't give drumsticks a second look.

I made the marinade using chili bean sauce (toban djan), something like the one I made years ago here. This sauce is very salty and pungent but I like it. If I remember correctly, the first time I tasted toban djan was at Esquire Kitchen when it was served as a condiment.

I marinated the chicken thighs for only a few hours (overnight would have been great) and it took me about 30 minutes to get them all nicely roasted.

See the pan juices? I collected the whole lot in a bowl (there was only about 3/4 cup) and added a tablespoon of brown rice vinegar to make a salad dressing. Oh! It was so very nice! 

The pan juices was already salty and sweet (from honey) and all it needed was the vinegar to balance it all out. Yeah, I think this is a good way to use the pan juices (beside tossing with rice).

These chicken thighs turned out very well, all moist and juicy with great flavors. Let's see what I do next with the other frozen meat from my bountiful freezer.

Chili Bean Honey Roasted Chicken Thighs

Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :

- 6 chicken thighs, bone in.

Marinade (mix all together)

- 1 tablespoon chili bean sauce (toban djan)

- 1 tablespoon light soya sauce

- 2 tablespoons honey

- 1 tablespoon grated ginger

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method :

1. Place chicken thighs in a freezer bag.

2. Pour marinade into the bag.

3. Squish the chicken thighs to get them coated with the marinade.

4. Leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

5. Take out and bring to room temperature before roasting at 180C for 30 minutes, basting with pan juices every 10 minutes.

Note : I used the leftover marinade in the bag to baste the chicken thighs.