Thai Style Chicken Legs

I adore Thai food.  Sweet Chili Sauce is one of my favourite condiments (try it with a Schnitzel - it's delicious!).  I was lucky enough to travel to Thailand in 1999 (a life time ago).  I ate my way from city to city and I gained 4 kilos enjoying Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Dinner and Dessert every day for 16 days.  This recipe is my ode to Thailand.  It's not fancy, but you can have a meal that resembles Thai flavours without leaving your home.

Chicken pieces are such a versatile cut of meat.  This recipe uses Chicken legs, I love Chicken legs as they're cheap, kids love them, can be adapted to so many dishes and they were on sale the other day.  As a large family I need 2 kilos (just over 4 pounds) of chicken legs.  I personally remove the skin from the chicken legs as I don't like the fat that the skin has.  This only takes me 7-10 minutes, so I pop on some music and skin away!

To make this recipe I decided to use my oven and bake these chicken legs.  A large baking tray is needed, I line the base of it with baking paper.  Using the paper helps with the clean up afterwards.  Ooops, I got carried away!  By using your oven to bake these you do two things: 1. you can pop these in the oven and forget about them for a bit and do other things (make dessert, do laundry, clean the house or have a rest) and 2. you can save a ton of calories by not using fat and save those calories for dessert!  You can thank me for that tip later.

This recipe has a mild amount of chili and due to this I was concerned that my 8 year old (who doesn't like anything spicy unless there is a tub of sour cream on the table) ate these with gusto and had no issues with the heat factor and sour cream wasn't needed, if you are a fan of a little heat, feel free to add more Sweet Chili Sauce or even some chilli flakes.  Plan-overs of these are great for lunch boxes the next day (just remember to add an ice-brick into your lunch box to keep them chilled).

This marinade can be used on other chicken pieces.  Being that these chicken pieces are marinated, please allow at least 6 hours for the marinade to work its magic.  I personally like to prepare these the night before.  I recommend using a large zip-lock bag and placed on a plate (just in case there springs a leak!)  This recipe can be doubled or quadrupled.  This recipe serves 4.

Recipe:

1 kilo Chicken Legs (about 8)
1/4 cup Sweet Chilli Sauce
1/4 cup Honey
1/3 cup Soy Sauce
1 garlic clove crushed (or a teaspoon of minced garlic from a bottle)

In a sauce pan on the stove top or in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave, gently heat the Sweet Chilli Sauce, Honey, Soy Sauce and the garlic until it's warmed and the honey is thinned.
Place your chicken legs (or chicken pieces) into a large zip-lock bag (or a medium/large casserole dish).
Pour the marinade over the chicken, zip up the bag and use your hands to knead the marinade into the chicken.  Place the bag onto a plate and pop it all into the fridge for 6 - 24 hours.
After 6 - 24 hours remove the chicken pieces (in the bag) from the fridge and leave to come up to almost room temp. while the oven pre-heats.
Pre-heat oven to 180oC (375oF), line a LARGE deep sided baking tray with baking paper.
Place the chicken and all the marinade on to the tray and pop into the oven.
Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the chicken's juices run clear when pierced with a sharp knife (I turn my chicken legs once, from one side to another about half way thru the cooking process).

Happy cooking!
Elizabeth x