Chicken in Caramel Sauce

Lately, I have been craving for something on the sweet side for my daily meal, so I decided to make Chicken in Caramel Sauce - a pretty simple Vietnamese dish. One thing to watch out for is the sweetness level, so you don't get bored by the third meal. So for my version of Chicken in Caramel Sauce, I added some vegetables (carrots for crunchy texture and tomatoes and green bell pepper for a bit of acidity) and chili pepper powder for some heat.


Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast or thigh meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
4 tablespoons minced shallot
6 tablespoons minced ginger
6 tablespoons water
1 carrots, cut into half coins
2 tomatoes, cut into bite sized chunks
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch strips
10 stalks green onions, cut into 1-inch sections

Caramel Sauce:
2 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons palm sugar
1 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper

Direction:

• Mix the sauce ingredients well in a bowl. Set aside.
• In a medium size sauce pan, boil the carrots for 2 minutes. Add in the tomatoes and green bell pepper and cook for another minute, drain and set aside.
• Stir fry the chicken meat cubes in a frying pan with half of the vegetable oil for 4 minutes or so until it changes color. Set aside.
• Add the rest of the vegetable oil into the frying pan and stir fry the garlic, shallot and ginger over medium heat for 4 minutes or so until fragrant and softened.
• Add in the caramel sauce, stir and continue cooking until the liquid boils and starts to thicken.
• Add in the water, stir until smooth and return to boil.
• Return the chicken pieces into the pan, cook for approximately 15 minutes until the liquid thickens and becomes glossy. Stir occasionally.
• Add the vegetables and the green onion in the pan and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Serve over rice. Enjoy!