Vietnamese Style Caramel Chicken and Coconut Lime Rice

Mr. Z and I eat a lot of chicken...and I do mean a lot! We eat chicken probably five times a week, which means if I am not constantly on the lookout for new chicken recipes, we get bored very quickly. I usually lean toward something buffalo style or something I've at least heard of before. But, lately I've tried to get out of that comfort zone, and I've ended up finding so many new things that I like! Not that you can really tell by my blog, but I am a very picky eater, so this is a big feat for me!

This meal was excellent. I was pretty nervous about using fish sauce, because I've only used it once before. In fact, when Mr. Z walked in the door from work as a was starting the chicken, he said, "What is that smell!?" It smelled like fish sauce and nothing else for the first little while, so that made me even more nervous, but I am glad I finished cooking it and tried it, because it was delicious! I served this with Coconut Lime Rice after seeing a comment on the recipe on Joelen's blog.

Vietnamese Style Caramel Chicken with Coconut Lime Rice
chicken recipe from Joelen's Culinary Adventures, written as I made it
rice recipe from MyRecipes.com, written as I made it

Vietnamese Style Caramel Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 c. dark brown sugar
1/2 c. water, separated
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1 clove of garlic, minced
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces

Heat brown sugar and 1/4 c. water in a large pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until mixture is bubbling.

Stir in the remaining 1/4 c. water, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, and cayenne pepper and stir well. Add chicken. Cook until chicken is cooked through and sauce starts to thicken. Turn heat up to medium-high and cook until sauce gets very thick and sticky.

Coconut Lime Rice
Ingredients:
1 c. light coconut milk
1 1/4 c. water
1 tsp. lime zest
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 c. instant rice

Bring coconut milk and water to a boil. Add rice and cook according to package instructions. In the last minute of cooking, add lime zest and lime juice.