Hainanese Chicken Chop (Grilled In Oven)

The other day I saw an advertisement from a cafe promoting its menu in the newspapers. One of the dishes was Hainanese chicken chop. Looking at the enticing pictures of the chicken chop made me salivate. Since this dish does not require me to go at it hammer and tongs and sweat buckets, I decided to prepare it the next day.

Hainanese chicken chop is my childhood favorite food.  Dad can whip up Hainanese chicken chop to die for.

The recipe for Hainanese chicken chop requires  deep-frying of the boneless chicken thighs. I adapted the recipe and grilled the chicken in the oven instead. I will not prep any dish that is super messy and requires deep frying.







Marinating the meat

I marinated the boneless chicken thighs with coriander powder, a little corn starch, ground black pepper, Lea And Perrins sauce and organic shoyu.
Some recipes include five-spice powder for the chicken marinate. But I could not find it in my kitchen, thus omitted it.

After popping the chicken thighs into the oven, I made the sauce, which is pretty effortless and fast.


Ingredients For Sauce 
Big onions, cut into rings
Chopped garlic
Tomatoes - cut into wedges
Green peas - I used Wattie's frozen baby garden peas from New Zealand
Sweet corn kernels - I used Wattie's frozen corn kernels
Button mushrooms - I used fresh Portobello mushrooms
Tomato ketchup
Lea And Perrin sauce
Soy sauce - I used organic shoyu
Sugar - I used organic brown sugar

Directions For Sauce
Brown garlic and onion rings
Add in tomatoes and saute till they turn partially soft and skin withers
Add in mushrooms, sweet corn kernels and garden baby peas
In a bowl of water, add a few teaspoons of corn starch.  Stir to dilute the corn starch.  Add into wok.
Season to taste with Lea And Perrins sauce, soy sauce, organic brown sugar, tomato ketchup and add more water. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Below - my wok of sauce with lots of colorful veggies is all ready!







Grilling The Chicken Thighs
Grill chicken thigh at 150C for about 15-20 minutes on each side.
Earlier, I steamed the sweet corns, potato and sweet potato wedges for about 15 minutes in the wok. Then I transferred them into the grill tray and grilled them with the chicken.





For sides, I made a mash of grilled potatoes, grilled sweet potatoes and blanched cauliflower.  I whizzed the 3 items for a few seconds in my Shimono blender.   Added some fresh milk, pepper and salt to taste. This mash is really delish. The girls loved it! It's so creamy, so rich and naturally sweet. Once you've popped a spoonful into your mouth, you just can't stop whacking more.