Sweet and Savory Garlic Shallot Grilled Chicken

Sweet and Savory Garlic Shallot Grilled Chicken

A couple months after Mike and I got married, Mike’s mom gave us a giant tub of marinated chicken. I was ecstatic! See, one night, at Mike’s parents’ place, we had some amazing grilled chicken. I was obsessed. It was sweet, savory, garlic-y, sticky, charred deliciousness. I wanted to learn how to make it myself so I asked her for the recipe. So, as moms do, she told me it was fish sauce, garlic, shallots, and sugar. I asked how much of everything and got: oh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, until you feel like it tastes right.

I tried to recreate it, many times, but to no avail. Finally she took pity on me and made me a huge tub of marinated raw chicken thighs. I happily grilled it and Mike and I feasted for 6 meals straight with fluffy white rice and crunchy fresh cucumbers. After days of chicken, I wasn’t tired of it, it was that good. After we ran out we ate other things, but I still dreamed of that chicken. So, when Mike’s mom gave us another tub of chicken telling us it was the same chicken, a month or so later, I was in heaven.

In a slightly suspicious heaven though because the chicken didn’t look like my chicken, the chicken I had come to know and love. It had some other things in it?! Other things that were delicious, sure, but the thing is, it didn’t have that smack you in the face flavor of the first chicken. I was happy on the outside because I’m not the type of person to turn down a food gift, but on the inside I was crying because the chicken I knew and loved was over, forever.

Do you guys ever do that? Make something so good you fall in love, say you’ll make it forever, then somehow get distracted, never write the recipe down and then can’t make it again? I felt like that except I never had the recipe in the first place. I mourned for that chicken. I know I’m being melodramatic, but something about that space and time and chicken is forever cemented in my memory of Mike and I being a little family for the first time, grilling chicken (that I didn’t prepare LOL), laughing, and having fun.

Anyway, this story has a happy ending because guys, I FOUND THE CHICKEN RECIPE!! The other day, Mike was making pork soup. He seasoned it with a paste that he made out of — you got it — fish sauce, garlic, shallots, and sugar! He gave me a taste and I was instantly brought back to the flavor of the chicken. I got crazy excited and asked him, what is this magic?!

Apparently, it wasn’t magic. It was just the most basic way that Vietnamese people like to season things. It was like I had just had hot wings for the first time and begged for the recipe. I was in love with the magical hot wings but really, it turned out I was in love with Frank’s Red Hot. When I kept talking about the chicken I was basically asking, hey, how do you make hot wings? Something so elemental and elementary that most people don’t even think about it.

After I figured it out, I was so happy! I insisted on making the fish sauce, shallot, garlic, sugar paste myself. I cut up some chicken thighs, skewered them, and we had a little grilling session. Our first grill session of the season! We also had some Vietnamese sausage (Mike made it, recipe coming soon), hot dogs, and mochi. It was sunny, smoky, and oh so delicious.

PS – I love our little yakitori grill! We lugged it all the way back from Japan just so we could grill meat on sticks :)

Note: I used skin on chicken thighs, because crispy skin, but feel free to use skinless as well.

Fish sauces vary greatly in taste, salt level, and quality, we prefer Red Boat Fish Sauce.

In a mortar and pestle, add the shallot, garlic and sugar. Pound until everything becomes a homogenous, sticky paste. Really take your time with this, you want all of the oils in the shallots and garlic to be expressed. When everything is a paste, stir in the fish sauce, starting with 1 tablespoon, adding to taste up to 2 tablespoons. Stir in a ton of freshly ground black pepper. Adjusting if needed. The paste should taste sweet, salty, with a huge hit of slightly spicy shallot and garlic.

Marinate the chicken overnight the the paste, being sure that all the pieces are coated evenly.

The next day, skewer your chicken, with about 4 pieces of chicken to each skewer. Grill over medium to medium high heat, until cooked through and slightly charred. Enjoy!