Penang Caramelised Chicken

I love the Women's weekly cookbooks, they are full of great recipes that always become regulars that you will make again and again. This is one of these recipes. If there is one recipe that you make from my blog, then let it be this.

This is from the book oodles of noodles. Mum had this book and I used to cook out of it all the time that there were splatters of food all over this page. Then the book disappeared. I searched for it everywhere but never to be found. I loved this recipe so much that I ordered the book from the UK, cause it's the only place I could seem to find it. It finally arrived and I made this dish straight away.

The only part I used to hate was all the chopping of the aromatics, but now I have a great food processor with a mini bowl which made this process so much easier! It's a great asian dish with all the characteristics of sweet, salty, spicy and sour. Very very tasty! I find that it's best eaten on the day though and dries out a bit if you try and reheat it the next day. It's still good though.

Putting lemongrass, ginger, chilli and garlic into the food processor

A few whizzes and it comes out like this! Magic.

Browning off the chicken

Frying off the aromatics


Adding water and sugar to get it all nice and sticky.

Bubbling away

Then add the chicken and let it get nice and coated

Then add in the noodles, sauces and coriander


Penang Caramelised Chicken - from Oodles of Noodles

400g dried wheat noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
650g chicken thigh fillets
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoons finely chopped lemongrass
4 small fresh red chillies, seeded, chopped finely
1/3 cup (60g) palm sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup (60ml) oyster sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons tamarind concentrate
1/4 cup (60ml) lime juice
1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves

1. Instead of finely chopping all the aromatics, put these in a food processor and chop.

2. Cook noodles in a large pan of boiling water, until just tender and then drain

3. Add half the oil and stir fry the chicken in batches until brown, then remove

4. Add remainder of oil and stir fry the garlic, ginger, chilli and lemongrass until fragrant

5. Stir in sugar and water until starting to bubble and caramelise

6. Return chicken to pan and coat in the sauce

7. Stir in noodles with combined sauces, tamarind, and lime juice.

8. Simmer until sauce thickens and then sprinkle with coriander just before serving.