SHEER DELIGHT - Vietnamese sticky chicken with crunchy salad

Nothing delights me more, than sitting in my kitchen with a cold glass of Pinot (after a not terribly stressful day), kicking back, talking to friends and kids (the one that actually decided to stay at home), and watching my husband cook.

God forbid I interfere.... in fact I did try - Jeez, I won't be doing that again.  Nobody actually told me he was qualifying for MasterChef.

Anyway, the result being the tastiest little number that I've had for quite some time.

Sticky Chicken (I don't know why I added the Vietnamese bit, but I'm sure you could find it somewhere there)... and the Crunchy slaw/salad - which actually he also made it for me the night before, but I can't get the hang of taking photos of food before I eat it, so now I have a feeling that everything will have to be cooked at least twice.

SAUCE FOR THE CHICKEN  - Written by the chef himself - just so there is no mistake

Make  a thin to medium caramel, mix finely chopped shallots, thumb sized bit of ginger, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, light soy sauce, dash of Chinese wine, fresh red chillis and good squeeze of lime (never lemons! !) When the caramel is ready CAREFULLY add the mixed up stuff (it can go crazy) to it - dont do it the other way round - (according to chef extraordinaire Mikey Hayes, it makes a HUGE difference, and I wouldn't be the perfect wife if I recounted it any differently)..

Skinless chicken thighs (bone in)

Marinade the thighs in the cooled sauce in the fridge for at least three hours (Not sure he did that - but then who am I to argue?)

Preheat wok small splash vegetable oil (rice bran oil if you can  get it) add chicken about five max or it will boil (This is where I came in and did it wrong and apparantley ruined the whole thing - woops - I still thought it tasted pretty good though.)  Leave alone, dont stir it- it will caramalise and get a bit sticky.

When you cant stand it (or me, annoying him) any more, turn them over and give them the same treatment. They should be dark and sticky. Add toasted sesame seeds, crispy fried shallots, handful of chopped coriander, squeeze of lime.

SALAD

Thinly sliced cabbage, carrots, cucumber, the long red pepper things, spring onions... and for the INCREDIBLE dressing - mix toasted sesame oil, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp honey, 3 tbsp sesame seeds, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar.

This is wierdly good with bulgar wheat for that classic Ukrainian Vietnamese  vibe!

So.. there you have it.. It was specially tasty, with or without my input - 

And marital harmony is back in the room....