Sweet and sour sauce has long been known in China. This country is considered the ancestor of the most delicious marinade in the world. With this sauce, you can cook a wide variety of products, ranging from marbled beef to vegetables from the grandmother's garden. Moreover, the marinade will only give a delicious piquancy and a pleasant aroma to the dish.
A bit of history
Today, all over the world, housewives cook chicken legs in sweet and sour sauce. But many centuries ago, Chinese cooks came up with a sauce not to cook chicken with it. For the first time, a mixture of granulated sugar and vinegar was invented in order to drown out the fish smell and taste. A little later, the cooks started adding tomatoes to the sauce.
Classic recipe
On store shelves today you can find a huge number of marinades and chicken sauces. You can even buy ready-made chicken legs in sweet and sour sauce. But the best option is to cook the dish yourself in your favorite kitchen. So you will definitely know what the marinade consists of, which chicken drumsticks you took for cooking and what quality, etc.
There is a couple of chicken legs cooked in "Chinese" sauce. Let's start with the classics, and then touch on a little more original recipes.
Essential Ingredients for Sauce
- 2 tablespoons (tablespoons) of soy sauce;
- as much honey;
- 0.6 l of water;
- three large tomatoes;
- 0.7 tablespoons (teaspoon) of rice vinegar;
- spoon (tablespoon) of starch.
Cooking features
So, let's start cooking chicken legs in sweet and sour sauce. A step-by-step recipe and a detailed description of the process, as well as photographs, will help novice housewives get comfortable and prepare the dish correctly.
From tomatoes we make homemade tomato sauce (you can replace it with a store tomato paste). Pour water into the prepared container and add soy sauce and tomato paste there. Turn on the middle gas, bring the mass to a boil. As soon as the first boiling bubbles appear, we reduce the fire. Separate the starch in a small amount of cool water, add it to the tomato paste.
Now it's the turn of honey. It must be viscous, fluid. If the honey is sugared, then just heat it in a water bath. If you do not want to bother with a bunch of pots, then put a plate of honey in the microwave for a couple of seconds. Now you can add it after the starch. Mix all products thoroughly. We wait until the sauce becomes thicker and half-cooked.
Salt the chicken legs, add black pepper and fry in oil until a crispy appetizing crust appears. Now we pour the sauce to the chicken and simmer the dish for another 45 minutes over low heat. Chicken legs are served in sweet and sour sauce with mashed potatoes, vegetable salad, boiled rice or buckwheat. This is a versatile dish, so any side dish will do. If the sauce is too acidic, add a little more sugar. If, on the contrary, it is too sweet, then pour in an extra spoon of vinegar or soy sauce.
Super-sharp chicken legs in sweet and sour sauce. Cooking Recipe & Tips
When you want to pamper your household with something special, you always have to experiment with dishes that you already love and are familiar to your family. We offer you to cook wonderful sharp chicken legs. By the way, such a spicy sauce is suitable for wings. You can also cook veal, beef, pork, turkey or rabbit meat with it.
Products
- 850 g of chicken legs;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- a pinch of salt;
- spoon (tablespoon) of vegetable oil;
- 110 ml of honey;
- ground black pepper;
- red onion;
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper;
- 160 g mustard seeds;
- 260 g of tomato paste of good quality;
- 2 tablespoons of sweet paprika;
- 3 teaspoons of brown sugar
- sesame seed;
- 3 tablespoons (tablespoons) of balsamic vinegar (can be replaced with apple or wine).
Description of the cooking process
Prepare a baking sheet. Covering it with foil. On it we place the legs, which are pre-rubbed with salt. The recipe for chicken legs in sweet and sour sauce is good because it allows you to cook several components of the dish at the same time. While the paws will “reach” in the oven, the sauce will be ready in the pan.
We send chicken to the very heat of the oven for 20 minutes. The temperature is 160 degrees. You just need to warm the meat well so that it then better absorbs the aromas and tastes of the sauce.
We send the oil to the pan. Peel the onion from its red skin and cut into half rings. We also peel the garlic with a tiny knife. Once the onion is fried, add the garlic and mix thoroughly. We make the minimum gas. Add all other ingredients to the pan: sugar and mustard, cayenne pepper, paprika and salt, balsamic vinegar, etc. Mix. Tomim sauce for about five minutes.
We take out the meat, pour it with marinade and again put it in the oven. Chicken legs are cooked in sweet and sour sauce for about 70 minutes. The temperature in the oven, so to speak, is classic - 180 degrees. Sprinkle the cooked dish with sesame seeds and serve.