Sweet Plum Chicken

We ordered a tasty little dish called "Taiwanese Chicken" during a visit to a local Cantonese restaurant a few weeks ago. It came in a hotpot with chicken wing pieces in a sweet brown sauce and some chopped spring onion for garnish. I'm not sure just how "Taiwanese" this dish is but who cares when it tastes good.

During dinner, the conversation turned to what's actually in this dish and how it was made. We came to the conclusion that it was probably chicken coated in flour and fried lightly with a sweet plum sauce poured over the top. We should try that out at home sometime!

So we did. I picked up a jar of SPC Plum Sauce with a recipe for "Chicken Tenderloin in Sweet Plum Sauce" on the back. It sounded very similar to the Taiwanese Chicken dish so we used it as a rough guide ontop of which we did our own customisations. Without further ado...

1.2kg of chicken wingettes and drumettes
1/4 cup port
1/4 red wine (or just go with 1/2 cup of the one port or red wine)
1/2 plum sauce
1 tbsp seeded mustard
1/4 olive oil
and some plain flour

Coat the chicken evenly with plain flour and place on an oven tray. Place the tray in the oven for around 20 mins at 210C, turning it once half way through. What that should result it chicken that it just about cooked through.

In the meantime, prepare the sauce but mixing the port, wine, plum sauce, olive oil and mustard seed in a bowl. Mix and put it aside.

Next place a frypan on the stove, turn the heat up to high and cover the pan with cooking oil. Throw in your chicken pieces and cook until it's golden. When done place the chicken pieces into a crock pot or similar and put the lid on to keep it warm.

In your frypan, put a small splash or plain flour over the existing oil and cook for a minute or two. Turn the heat to low-medium and pour in your sauce mixture. Simmer for a minute or two then pour over the chicken in your pot. And voila. Serve with rice and a vegatable stir fry for a balanced meal. For 2-3 people. A very nice little homely dish we both enjoyed before heading off to see The Dark Knight.

So how does it stack up to the myserious Taiwanese chicken dish? The dish at the restuarant was more subtle in taste, and upon reflection the sweetness didn't come from plum sauce alone. There was definately some honey in there was well. Tweaks to the second version is already planned - use a chinese plum sauce and not as much, add some honey, and perhaps use a chinese cooking wine instead of port/red wine.