5
Easy
10 minutes + 3 hours marinating time
15 minutes
1. Marinate chicken – Mix the marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat well. Marinate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. (Reserve the bowl with any left-over marinade.)
For boneless, skinless chicken thighs (oven grill method):
2. Preheat the oven grill to high with the oven shelf 20 cm from the heat source. Line a baking
tray with foil (not paper, it will burn). Place a wire rack on the tray and spray it with oil.
3. Oven grill – Place the chicken, smooth-side down, on the rack. Grill for 4 minutes or until the chicken is lightly browned. Turn the chicken over. Use a brush or rubber spatula to scrape out half the residual marinade from the bowl and dab it onto the surface of the chicken. Spray generously with oil, then grill for 2 minutes. Remove from the oven, dab with the remaining marinade and spray with oil again. Grill for 5–6 minutes until the surface is caramelised.
For bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (baked method):
4. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced). Line a baking tray with foil, then baking paper (you’ll thank me later!).
5. Bake – Place the chicken on the tray, skin-side up. Use a brush to dab half the remaining marinade in the bowl onto the skin. Bake for 30 minutes. Dab the remaining marinade onto the skin. Bake for 10 minutes. Dab the skin with the tray juices, then spray with oil. Bake for a further 10–15 minutes or until the skin is caramelised. Remove from the oven.
6. Serve – Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Baste the skin one last time using the tray juices (or pour over the chicken). Pile the Cucumber Ribbons on the side and serve with rice, garnished with green onion.
Cook's note:
1. A sweet-spicy Korean rice and soybean-based paste that is packed with a ton of savoury flavour! I used mild (spice level 3). Readily available at large grocery stores these days, otherwise find it in Asian and Korean grocery stores. If you want to reduce
the gochujang in the marinade, substitute it with red miso plus ½ teaspoon of white sugar for every 1 tablespoon of miso.
2. Or all-purpose soy sauce*. Do not substitute with dark soy sauce*! It’s too intense.
3. The chicken can also be cooked on the stove or barbecue, but take care and use medium or medium–high heat or the sugar in the marinade has a tendency to burn.
LEFTOVERS: Fridge 3 days, freezer 3 months.
Extracted with permission from 'Recipetin Eats: Tonight' by Nagi Maehashi. Published by Macmillan Australia. Retail price: R699. Photography by Nagi Maehashi.
