Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

Tired of the same old chicken and rice recipe?  I thought you might be!  Next time you have a hankering for chicken and rice I dare you to try this Vietnamese Caramel Chicken with a side of jasmine rice.  It will blow your mind.  I used chicken breasts for this recipe but you could use thighs too if that is more your thing.  The key is the sauce that you make to pour over the chicken while it's cooking!  Brown sugar (the caramel to this caramel chicken), fish sauce (we bring the funk!), the lime juice for acidity and the crushed red pepper for a little kick of heat.  Now, I'm gonna admit, this stuff smells kinda funky when it's cooking (thanks to the fish sauce) but when you take a bite of this chicken you will not care a lick what your house smelled like while it was cooking.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, Vietnamese cooking is so perfectly balanced as far as sweet, savory and, well, funk, that it should be given some type of award (probably a grammy.)  Anyway......

Vietnamese Caramel Chicken (adapted from Cooking Light, September 2014)

1 T. olive oil
2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
2 t. ground ginger
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c. low sodium chicken broth
5 T. brown sugar
1 1/2 T. fish sauce
1 1/2 T. freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 t. crushed red pepper
6 green onions, sliced
1 1/2 c. jasmine rice cooked according to package directions, for serving

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Add the oil and swirl to coat the pan.  Add the chicken, cook 2 minutes, then turn.  Add the ginger, garlic and onion and continue cooking for 1 minute more.  

Place the chicken broth, brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper in a small bowl and whisk to combine.   Add the sauce to the pan and cook for 1 minute.  Reduce the heat to medium low and continue cooking an additional 7-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly.  Garnish with green onion and serve over rice.

6 servings (421 calories each serving) according to my calculator on loseit.com

I served this with Sauteed Bok Choy.