Ginger Scallion Chicken

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I made this recipe during our Whistler week long ski trip, and my condo-mates said the ginger scallion sauce was "The Bomb".

And they wanted more.

I was honestly really surprised that they liked this ginger scallion sauce that much. Maybe because I always took this sauce for granted. Growing up, my mom often made ginger scallion sauce for her poached chicken. With this readily available homemade condiment, I didn't think it was anything special-- until someone else told me, "It's The Bomb".

After that Whistler trip, I got curious and started googling ginger scallion sauces. Sure enough, there are people addicted to this ginger scallion sauce, claiming it's their favorite sauce in the whole world, and that it can bring to life anything it touches. Apparently, David Chang of Momofuku fame says in his cookbook, "If you have ginger scallion sauce in the fridge, you will never go hungry." Very interesting. Equally fascinating were the many variations that added fish sauce, garlic, soy sauce, or vinegar to the basic traditional sauce of ginger, scallions, salt and oil.




Make this ginger scallion chicken recipe to have your own flavor explosion bomb of the night!



P.S. I served this chicken over a bed of garlic noodles and a side of stir fried bok choy with enoki mushrooms for dinner. When made with dark meat, ginger scallion chicken is totally suitable for a freezer meal. (The bok choy...maybe not. But I needed a veggie side dish for the freezer meals.) Links to previous freezer friendly meals for your convenience: Japanese Beef Curry, Homestyle Char Sui, Freezer Friendly Eggplant with Pork and Basil


Yields 8 servings

Ingredients:

  • 6 lbs boneless chicken thighs (about 12 thighs trimmed)
  • 2 t salt
  • 1 t garlic powder
  • ½ t pepper

Ingredients for ginger scallion sauce:

  • 2 large knobs of ginger (about ¼ lb, peeled and grated = 3 T)
  • 1 bunch of green onions chopped (about ½ cup)
  • 3 T vegetable oil (or grapeseed oil or sunflower oil, any oil with a high smoke point)
  • pinch of salt

Procedures:

  1.  Trim chicken thighs of excess skin and fat. Cut each boneless thigh in half and place in ziplock bag. Marinate with salt, garlic and pepper overnight, or at least 6 hours.
  2. Pan fry chicken in a single layer, skin side down, in a nonstick pan. (you should not need oil, as the chicken thighs release quite a bit of oil). Turn chicken over and pan fry the other side until cooked through. Transfer to a serving platter and keep warm.
  3. To prepare the ginger scallion sauce, grate fresh ginger. Chop green onions. Add both to a heat resistant bowl. (Use a larger bowl than you think you need because there may be a bit of a splatter.) In the pan, heat 3 T vegetable oil until it is just about to smoke. Carefully pour heated oil into the ginger scallion bowl to “cook” the sauce. You should hear a loud sizzle. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Serve on top of chicken.