April | 2021 | Musings of a Wandering Dryad

Generally, I share my culinary experiments with my Instagram audience. This one had recipe requests, so I had to deviate from my practice of winging with it and write down a recipe.

I would call this as my perfectly Maillarded chicken breasts.

That’s not what I named it. ‘Honey glazed garlic-pepper chicken’ sounds so unremarkable, opposed to its remarkable blend of flavours. So be it.

You could say that the dominant flavour is of garlic that is fried in butter and caramelized in honey. Black pepper is the best partner to tango with garlic. Yet, when honey joins this “Three to Tango”, it leaves everlasting imprint on your plate and glaze on your eyes.

Butter sounds scary to you?

You won’t get the taste with any other substitute. My weekday meals are soups, salads and fatless, low carb. So I indulge guiltlessly, in a bit of butter once in a while.

But you could reduce butter and add olive oil. But watch the smoking point!

Ingredients
1. Boneless chicken- 500 g
2. Ground black pepper- ( as per your spice requirements)
3. Crushed Garlic - 25-30 cloves. 
4. Dark soya sauce- 2 tablespoons
5. Honey- 2 tablespoons
6. Salt- as per taste
7. Butter- 100 g 
8. Spring onions- ( for garnish)

Method

1. Marinate the chicken with salt, and ground pepper for 2 hrs. If the pieces are large, do make shallow slits before marinating.

2. In a frying pan melt butter and fry the crushed garlic. Once they are brown, remove from the pan.( I do add a little olive oil to prevent the butter from smoking.)

3. In the same butter, shallow fry the marinated chicken. (Add more butter, if you feel the butter isn’t enough). In medium flame, fry both sides, till the pieces turn a gentle brown.

4. Mix soya sauce and honey.

5. Add the fried garlic and honey- soya sauce mixture into the pan. Make sure that each piece is coated well. Watch the slices turn to Maillard brown. Turn off the flame and serve hot with garnish.

The mixture will fume and burn if you don’t control the flame. The perfect caramelization is indeed a culinary magic that you have to create with your patience.

Happy feasting.