From mother’s loving hands
My family are absolute chicken fiends. We have red meat maybe once or twice a week, and lots of seafood and fish, but for some reason chicken tends to appear on the dinner table only about once a month. However, when it does, it’s usually done so in a ridiculously tasty way courtesy of my mother’s tendency towards time-consuming but delicious meal preparations.
I once asked her why she bothered with the extra steps in her recipes, which appeared to me to be tedious and without merit, but she offhandedly replied that she didn’t care how long the preparation took as well as the fact that though I couldn’t see the point to her extended steps, that I’d surely notice the difference in the dishes when she left them out! In this particular dish, the milk marinade absolutely baffled me till my mother explained that it helped the make the chicken stay moist during the cooking, as well as helping to remove any ‘chickeny’ smell from the meat!
I think that a lot of her cooking methods come from the food preparation methods used in Korean cuisine. Anyone who has tried making something such as kimchi, mandu or miyok guk will be able to tell you that most Korean mains are not exactly the easiest dishes in the world to make. They usually consist of various components and the sauces and preparation are fiddly and time-consuming, but the end results are dishes with robust but balanced flavours, making those who try a well-prepared meal hooked and hungry for more!
You probably have recipes for some kind of baked chicken drumstick dish, and with the prep time required for this recipe I can’t convince you to try it. All I can say is that you should give it a shot…and if you have a recipe that beats it, send it over to me and I’ll give it a try 
Baked Sweet & Spicy Soy Chicken
Ingredients
1.5kg chicken drumettes, trimmed of fat
2L milk
2 medium onions, pureed
10 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup kecap manis *
2/3 cup sweet chilli sauce
1/4 cup dried chilli flakes
1/4 cup water
* Kecap manis is a thick, sweet soy sauce commonly used in Indonesian cooking. You should be able to find it in any Asian grocery store
1. Mix together the milk, onion puree, crushed garlic, salt, sugar and pepper, then taste and add more sugar/salt/pepper as required (it should be ‘fresh’ from the onion, garlicky, sweet with just a hint of a kick from the pepper). Submerge the chicken in the milk mix, cover it and leave it to marinate overnight in the fridge.
2. The next day, remove the chicken from milk marinade and drain for about an hour. While chicken is draining, mix together the kecap manis, sweet chilli sauce, dried chilli flakes and the water, then when the chicken has drained, mix it through the fresh marinade, then pack it tightly into a plastic container with the marinade and leave it to marinate overnight in the fridge (or, at the very least for about 2-3 hours).
3. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C, and place chicken in a baking tray with the marinade poured over the top. Cover with a piece of foil and bake for 30 minutes.
4. At the 30 minute mark, remove the foil and turn the chicken pieces over, then cover again and bake for another 30 minutes. 10 minutes before removing from the oven, remove the foil to help the chicken take on a little extra colour.
5. Remove from the oven, serve with a rice and a side of Asian-inspired salad (for which I’ll put up a recipe another time) and enjoy a delicious dinner 
Technorati Tags: chicken, poultry, baked, recipes, food, Asian, Korean cuisine, family recipes
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Comments
Cris Hey Ellie, for some reason (work, work, work) I missed so many posts here! Trying to catch up. We like chicken here… oh, now that you mentioned dulce de leche, I have a recipe for that, but I want to make one more time to make sure I got my mom’s right recipe from my childhood. Take care!
Amelita (Squishy) My daughter just loves anything to do with chicken. Great looking recipe. Makes me hungry just looking mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Jacelyn Hi Ellie, just want to let you know I think you are a fabulous cook and baker. Just love visiting your blog and seeing all your yummy food.
Gonna try this recipe and make it for my up-coming bday. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful recipes. =)
mooncrazy Ellie, chicken soaking in milk is an old Southern trick, I’ve used buttermilk. Need to know what kecap manis is. Is it Korean?
maltese parakeet wow, love the new site design. sorry if i’m late to the party on noticing it, as i usually read you on bloglines. it’s fab! as for the chicken, this would be a great substitute for hot wings, i’m going to give this a try for my next get-together.
Cheryl As a girl who made hot wing bagels, you know I am huge a huge fan of some spicy chicken wings. These are mouth watering.
Tanna Ellie this is just the reason why once in a while I “force” myself to do something that is just ridiculous in it’s complexity. I learn so much and find out a little of what is worth the time and effort.
I love chicken soaked/marinated in buttermilk!
Ellie Hi Kat Kecap Manis is also known as Indonesian soy sauce - it is a type of soy sauce which has been thickened with palm sugar and spiced with garlic and star anise (and sometimes other spices as well, depending on the brand). It is a great thing to have handy in the pantry!
Cris - Heeheehee, work can get that way! Hope you’re not working too hard
Amelita - Glad you like it 
Paz - Aww, thanks hon
Jacelyn - Wow! Thanks for the lovely compliments, I’m glad that you liked the look of this, and hopefully you’ll love the flavour too!
Mooncrazy - Really? Wow, I had no idea I love how these little kitchen tricks are cross-culture! Kecap manis is a type of Indonesian soy sauce which has been thickened with palm sugar and flavoured with garlic and/or star anise, you should be able to find it in a Korean or Chinese grocery store
MP - Hehehe, thanks hon, no worries! I’m the same way - I read all my blogs through bloglines so I often notice things like a design change far after the fact
Cheryl - Hot wing bagels?? I’m intruiged!
Tanna - I agree entirely! It’s only by trying new and challenging recipes that I think I continue to expand my culinary knowledge and skill (albeit very slowly!). I think this probably applies to the rest of life as well
MeltingWok Hey there Love your chicken rendition with all my favorite sauces, gotta love that kicap manis, so versatile, yums !:)
Susan from Food Blogga I feel a little relieved to hear you say that Korean cooking isn’t the easiest cuisine to tackle. I’ve made a few dishes, but I think I’d benefit from a hands-on tutorial. Perhaps from a delightful, Korean blogger with a great sense of humor? Know anyone who fits that bill, Ellie?
Ellie Covina - Thanks, hon And kecap manis is great stuff, we always have 2 bottles in our pantry, one currently in use and one as the backup
Deborah - Thanks for the tag, hon Will get straight on it!
Susan - Absolutely no worries Any dishes in particular that you want to know about?
Ironeaters - I’m glad you like the pics! Thanks for stopping by
Christine (myplateoryours) These photos are luscious. The glaze on that chicken is perfect!
Elizabeth Oh these look so tantilising! A great meal to get your fingers sticky and face dirty! theyll be on my menu this weekend! thanks
Jacelyn Hi Ellie, it’s me again. I’ve tried this recipe and it’s really yummylicious. Everyone who came for my party love it. =) Cheers to ya!
Ellie Elizabeth - I hope they worked out well for you!
Jacelyn - Yay! I’m so glad to hear that you liked them Thanks for letting me know!
Sophia Hi Ellie,
You posted this on LiveJournal community food_porn and I finally made it tonight! (After 2 nights of marinating of course) It was amazingly delicious and tender and just the right amount of spicy and sweetness. I was so pleased with the results! Of course it looks much better in you pictures but love the taste of it! Will definitely be making this over and over again
Ellie Hi Sophia - I’m so glad that you enjoyed this chicken The marinating *does* take a fair bit of time, but I think the payoff is well worth it in the end Thanks so much for letting me know that you tried (and liked!) this recipe!
very nice recipe. please tell me what kecap manis sauce is.