Chinese Style Coca Cola Chicken

One the very best things about where I work, aside from it being one of my favorite companies, is that there are not many foreigners. The staff are almost all Chinese and they're all quite generous with letting us sample their meals {most of which they've either made, their moms have made, or they've bought from somewhere awesome that I would never know to go to}. One day, a co-worker named Lucy offered me some chicken saying it was Coca-Cola chicken. It. Was. So. Good.

So, I did what I always do when I taste something delicious and thought, "I can make that."

And then I Googled it. As it turns out, this is a common dish here, and many Chinese think of it as a an authentic Chinese one {note, almost everywhere has a Coca-Cola chicken. I think I've seen recipes with ketchup at home?}. But, you won't find it in a restaurant here, or in the states. It's home cookin'.

My recipe is about as authentic as you would consider any adaptation. I looked up a bunch of recipes by people who live here {expats married to Chinese folks, usually, or the rare Chinese person who speaks English AND has a blog} to get the gist and then just used what I had around.

The finished product was SO yummy. The picture you'll see of the finished product is served with mashed potatoes, but that's really only because I was craving some. I usually just eat this with sticky rice.

As always, I'm a "dash of that, a little of this" kind of cook, so experiment with your preferences.

Ingredients:
10 chicken wings and drumsticks {here, they're little. So, maybe a few less if you're in the States}
1 bottle of Coca-Cola
Light Soy Sauce
5 cloves of chopped garlic
oil {I used some sort of fish oil, I think. Peanut also works}

Directions:
Marinate chicken in about half the bottle of coke with soy sauce {about 2 TBS} for 20 minutes.
Heat the oil and saute the garlic for about 2 minutes.
Add the chicken {use loooong tongs} but not the marinade.
Saute until the sides are brown and crusty on the chicken.
Add soy sauce and coke to the pan.
Cook until the liquid reduces into a glaze of your desired consistency.

{When you add the Coke it will fizz. The fizz goes away!}

{This is what it looks like when it's glaze-y}

Seriously, this couldn't be easier. It uses ingredients that are easy to find anywhere, and doesn't require any kind of special equipment {I only have a hot plate in my apartment!}.

Enjoy!