10-Minute Ayam Kicap

No, I am not kidding. This superbly simple recipe for ayam kicap (soysauce chicken) takes only 10 minutes to cook! Maybe even less, depending on how you cook it. Great for all those last minute cooking assignments :D And its yummy too! What more can you ask? :D

What you need:
Boneless (skinless, if you prefer) chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 2 inch cubes
4 teaspoons cornflour
4 teaspoons minced garlic
4 teaspoons minced shallots
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons white vinegar
6 tablespoons soysauce (I used mostly light, with a splash of dark for colour)
1/3 cup water
Chilli powder, to taste (optional)
Sesame oil, to taste
Oil, for cooking

What you do:

1. Marinate the chicken briefly in sesame oil (at least 15 minutes) and coat lightly in cornflour.
2. Heat some oil in a wok, and stirfry the chicken pieces.
3. Once the chicken is almost cooked, add in the minced onions and garlic. Stir to mix thoroughly.
4. Once the chicken is cooked and is nice and aromatic (from the garlic and onions :D yum!), add in the sugar, vinegar, soysauce and water.
5. Simmer until the sauce is nice and thick. Sprinkle in the chilli powder, if you want, and drizzle some sesame oil. Mix well and serve immediately.

When I told my family that I was cooking "Special Ayam Kicap" for lunch, most of them groaned. Admittedly, I have made quite a few special ayam kicaps, and not all of them have turned out all that different. Thankfully, this one tasted just enough to make a difference :D

First, the fact that the onions and garlic were minced (mine were actually put through the food processer) gave a huge impact to the sauce. With every bite, there is this delicate flavour of onions and garlic, which really is quite nice :D In fact, this brought some comparisions with teroyaki chicken (which, in some recipes, does have onions and garlic :D) While you may feel free to add in some sliced onions, I do fully recommend that you add in at least some minced ones. In fact, if I ever cook this again, I would probably add in some minced ginger as well :D Just make sure to add it in just before the chicken is cooked, not too early, otherwise they might burn. Particularly the minced ones. Ooooo, and add in some spring onions together with the sesame oil in the last step. I didn't have any handy, but it would make the chicken taste even nicer! (and look better, hehe)

Also, do coat the chicken in cornflour first, before stirfrying it. Don't be lazy, hehe. It doesn't take all that long and helps the yumminess factor of the dish tremendously. First of all, the cornflour helps to thicken the sauce, later on in the cooking process. Plus, this is just my theory, but the cornflour coat seems to help the sauce "stick" to the chicken better, giving a much more flavoursome chicken :D

Thighs really are the best pieces to use, but if you wish t o control what you eat, feel free to use breasts instead. I've just heard about some fairly alarming facts about eating chicken tonight actually, but I am thinking (hoping!!) that it was just all an exaggeration. Everyone hope with me! ;)