My children are carnivores at heart. I know this, I accept this, so I do the best I can with this. Such as buying local, hormone & antibiotic free, free run birds. We usually buy whole birds that way we can make stocks and have different cuts, but my children have been showing a preference for the drumsticks. They're easy to hold, they can eat them directly of the leg and are convenient little servings of protein. So I bought a family pack of 12 drumsticks, figuring that I was going to divide them up.... but I didn't and had to cook them all in one go. As it turns out that was fine. Organic birds are usually a bit smaller than their industrially force fed counterparts. So really 2 or 3 legs is a reasonable serving size for two hungry toddlers. The remaining meat can be cleaned of the bone and used for leftovers.
Fermented Black Bean Drumsticks (or other chicken parts)
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything
- 1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil
- 12 drumsticks or about 3 lbs bone in chicken parts, rinsed and pat dry with paper towels
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp fermented black beans, rehydrated in just enough water to cover and drained.
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/2 cup water
- salt & pepper
- juice of one lemon
Turn skillet off and remove from the element. Remove the chicken parts and pour off all but a tablespoon of fat from the pan. Put the skillet back on the element and reheat to medium and add the garlic. Cook garlic until soft, about a minute. Add chicken back in, pour combined soy sauce, water mixture over the chicken. Salt and pepper to taste, turn to coat drumsticks and cover with lid. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20-30 minutes, turning a couple times during the cooking process.
Make rice according to package instructions or your favourite method, this is mine (but I left out the onion and cumin seeds).
Serve over rice, drizzled with the black bean sauce and finish with lemon juice.
photos of carnage by me.
