Vietnamese Caramelized Spicy Chicken

This was surprisingly better than I expected. I was expecting mediocre and was actually very pleased with it. That's always cool when that happens. I made a lot of changes to the recipe which I will note.

* 1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken (thighs preferred, but breast also works) I used breast* 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1-inch piece peeled fresh ginger, grated (peeled, frozen ginger is easy to grate)
* 1-3 Thai chiles (depending on your heat tolerance/preference), sliced I couldn't find Thai chilies so I just used red pepper flakes. Probably about a 1/2 tsp? 
* 3 Tablespoons fish sauce
* 2 Tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar
* 1 Tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/4 cup water I don't think I did a full 1/4 cup. I didn't want it to be too liquid-y and I did add the soy sauce

* splash of soy sauce

* corn starch (if it doesn't thicken well)* 6-8 green onions, sliced on the diagonal into approx 2-inch lengths I used like 2

* Steamed vegetable of choice. I had some left over fresh green beans that I steamed and ate with it. They were good. broccoli would be good too. 

DIRECTIONS:

Cut the chicken into large chunks and set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the pieces of chicken are no longer pink. Push the chicken to the perimeter of the saucepan and add the garlic, ginger, shallots and Thai chiles. Cook for several minutes, until softened.

Combine the fish sauce, both sugars and black pepper in a small bowl and stir to mix.

Toss the chicken and garlic mixture and then pour in the fish sauce mixture and stir to coat. Add the splash of soy sauce. Bring to a boil for a minute or two and then add the water. Adjust heat to a low simmer and then let the chicken cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and the chicken is cooked through. Add the green onions.

Remove from heat and serve with rice.

http://www.girlcooksworld.com/2012/07/ga-kho-vietnamese-caramelized-spicy-chicken.html