Maria Nasir
It has become a family tradition with us that we extend all our little celebrations upto a week, whether they are birthdays, festivals, wins at school or special days. It’s our way of making each other feel special and prolonging the moments of happiness. Father’s Day is no exception.
Coming back to the menu, for the first episode of Father’s Day special treat we decided to make spicy potato cheese cakes and Glazed Plum Chicken Drumsticks.
Two simple enough recipes which the girls could manage on their own without much help.
Plum sauce makes the most flavourful and glossy glaze that’s ever possible in the shortest time with least effort. You can make the sauce from the scratch too with fresh or dried plums. Just remove the pits, add a little brown sugar and cook the same way with rest of the glaze ingredients.
The drumsticks, one of the most handy of all the cuts of meat to have in the freezer, get tossed with a light coating of the glaze and are cooked to charred perfection. Instead of oven you can cook them through out in a pan or grill as well and toss into the glaze or pour it over them at the end.
It’s needless to say how quickly the Glazed Plum Chicken Drumsticks vanished!
Ingredients:
For Chicken Drumsticks:
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
For Plum Glaze:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons hot sauce
1 inch piece ginger, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon red chilli flakes (optional)
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons corn flour
1 stalk spring onion
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
This Is What You Do:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.
Rinse the drumsticks under cool water and pat dry.
Put them in a bowl, poke with a knife or fork all over. Drizzle with lemon juice and season well salt and pepper.
Heat oil/butter in a pan. Fry drumsticks on medium heat till golden on outside and juices are sealed inside, almost 5-7 minutes.
If the pan is oven proof you can cover it with foil and put it in the oven just like that otherwise move the drumsticks into an oven proof pan. Spread them in a single layer, tightly cover the pan with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare plum sauce glaze. Add plum sauce/jam to a sauce pan. Add soy sauce, hot sauce, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, red chilli flakes. Add 1/4 cup water and bring everything to a boil. Stir to mix.
Taste the mix before adding more salt because there is already salt in different sauces that we have added.
Dilute corn flour with a little water. Add it to the sauce mix. Cook stirring till the sauce thickens slightly.
Remove the chicken from the oven. Pour the glaze over the chicken. Bake uncovered another 10 minutes or place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes till all the liquid is dried out and drumsticks are nicely charred.
Garnish with spring onions and sesame seeds. Serve hot.