Vietnamese Roast Chicken

When I lived in California and we'd make a trek to the really big Asian store there, I'd alway make a stop at this little Vietnamese sandwich shop at the end of the strip mall.  I'm not even sure it had a name.  They had great bahn mi (sandwiches) and cheap too.  I think all of them were under $3.  This for fresh baked French rolls with your choice of fillings.  The thing I loved the best though, was their chicken.  I'd buy some to take home for dinner.  I've never had anything like it anywhere else and we eat a lot of Asian food.

There was a great sale on leg quarters recently.  I think they were 39 cents a pound.  So we bought about 10 lbs worth.  The Greek pulled them out of the freezer the other day and left them for me to cook.  I had tried to duplicate the recipe before, unsuccessfully.  I thought I'd give it another shot.  This time was near perfect!

Vietnamese Roast Chicken

4 leg quarters
2 T sugar
1 T salt

Marinade
3/4 c Sweet chili sauce*
2 T fish sauce**
3T honey
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 inch piece of ginger, pressed, minced or grated

Combine the salt and sugar.  Place the chicken in a large bowl or baking dish and sprinkle evenly with the salt-sugar mixture.  Rub it in all over, even under the skin if you can.  Let sit for 30 min.

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together.  Drain the liquid from the chicken, cut slashes in it if you want, then mix well with the marinade.  I let it soak about 90 min but I think overnight would have been better.  Makes sure it is all coated and even put some in the slashes if you have them.  Every once in a while stir it up or flip the bag over if you put it in a bag like I do overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Put the chicken on a baking sheet skin side up.  Spoon some of the marinade on top.  Bake for about 25 min.  Check for doneness.

You can serve with rice and more chili sauce if you want, for dipping.

You can use thighs, drumsticks or wings.  You can try it with breasts I'm not sure how it would be with white meat.  I can't wait until it warms up and we can throw these on the grill!

*Sweet chili sauce - I use Mae Ploy brand.  I've seen it in well stocked grocery stores and almost always in Asian groceries.



**Fish sauce  - it's called by many names...nuoc mam in Vietnamese... nam pla in Thai...patis in the Phillipines.  It's watery and brown.  You can use them interchangeably.  Adjust to taste as different brands maybe saltier.  don't be put off by the smell, it really mellows out in cooking.  This can also be found in many grocery stores.

Here are some so you can see what I'm talking about