When I was “inventing” the dish, several dishes came up to my mind, for example grilled/fried chicken with five-spice, or some different versions of stewed chicken. I was also thinking that “chicken and milk” sounds kinda … sweet and buttery, I need something tangy, something sour to give the dish a balance. Luckily I had some canned pineapple stacked in my kitchen for a while (since they had it on sale ) <–> that’s perfect !!!
In the end I came up with this, chicken marinated in five-spice, pineapple juice, then stewed in milk for about 1 hr. Uhm.. it must be yummy, I though to myself … and indeed it was !!!!
Recipe for chicken and pineapple stewed in milk:
Methods:
- Marinate chicken w salt + sugar + pepper + five-spice + garlic + canned pineapple (w juice) for about 20-30 mins. Set aside.
Mean while, chopped the onion
- Heat pan, add 2 ts of oil + 1 tbs of butter. When oil n butter is heated, throw in the onion, cook until translucent. (The onion’s gonna be caramelized later on while the chicken is cooked in the pan)
- Throw in the chicken pieces (leave the marinate liquid n the pineapple in the marinate bowl). Turn down the heat to medium-high. Brown all sides of the chicken pieces. While chicken is cook, the onion will be caramelized, turning dark brown and this will help browning the chicken as well.
- Once chicken is browned (not really cooked through), take them all out of the pan n set aside.
Throw in all the pineapple to the pan, add some salt (3/4 ts) and saute the pineapple until they turn golden-browned and the edges are slightly browned.
- Add in the chicken pieces, pour in all the marinate liquid and milk. All the liquid together should cover up the chicken.
Bring to a boil and then turn down to medium/medium high heat, keep simmering until there’s only 1/3 of the liquid left in the pan. While the chicken is cooked, stir occasionally to make sure everything absorbs all the spices n tastes the same.
- When done, the chicken and pineapple should be very very tender and moist. The dish should be balanced with the saltiness, sweetness, n tanginess from the pineapple.