In general, there are two ways to sear the boneless chicken legs for this recipe. You can simply lay down the chicken and let it sear on its own. That's what I did too, which yields a fuller bite and thicker meaty part in the end.
You can also aim for extra crunchiness for the skin. If doing so, you'll have to find something heavy, for instance a brick to weight down the meat while searing skin side down. However, in exchange of that even crispier skin, the meat section will also get pressed down a bit and result in a tougher bite.
Both methods still result in pretty delicious chicken steak, so it's up to you whether to put more emphasis on the meat itself or the skin part.
Seared boneless chicken leg with lemony scallion sauce -
Ingredients?
- 2 medium boneless skin-on chicken legs
- 2 stalks scallion (mainly use the white section)
- 1/2 lemon
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon drinkable hot water
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- Some olive oil
- Some salt
- Some black pepper
How?
Trim the boneless skin-on chicken leg by removing tendons and excess fats. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on both sides.
Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem and chop the scallion. Try to use the white section first, if not enough then mix in some green part. We will need about 1 cup of chopped scallion here.
Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a pan and switch to medium high heat. Wait till the pan gets hot then transfer the chicken over skin side down. Do not move the chicken at all in the beginning. You can check the sides, once seemed golden brown then you can try to move it around.
If you move the chicken too fast before the skin has been browned, the skin might still be stuck to the pan and you won't get a pretty whole chicken steak in the end.
You can add something heavy on top, usually a brick to get crispier skin. I went for a simpler route instead and just let the meat sear as it is. Once the skin side has been seared till golden brown color, flip the chicken.
Switch to medium heat and slowly sear the chicken till fully cooked through. Once ready, transfer the chicken legs to serving plate. The meat can also rest there while we work on the lemony sauce.
Still using the same pan, either wipe out excess oil or add more if needed, just remember we need enough oil to evenly coat the pan plus a bit extra. Using medium heat, add in chopped scallion and garlic. Give it a quick stir-fry, cook till aromatic but not burning the garlic.
Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, juice of half lemon (which is about 1 1/2 tablespoons for mine), 1 tablespoon of hot water, 1/4 teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds.
Bring the heat up to a light boil and let it reduce a bit. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.
Pour that sauce all over the chicken legs. Crack some more black pepper before serving.
You can serve the chicken as it is, but together with steamed rice is my favorite way to eat it. Especially when the rice slightly sucked in the sauce, it's like double of flavors double the enjoyment.
On a side note, remember that even if you went for the crispier skin route, once the lemony scallion sauce drizzled all over, you'll still start to lose some of that crunchiness over time.
Which I don't mind at all. I'm more for the juicy meat paired with the sauce. That extra touch of lemon truly made a big difference brighting up the flavors.
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