Trivia: Do you know that despite it being called “Western food” in Malaysia, chicken chop is really a local creation? In fact, it is believed that chicken chop was originally created by the Hainanese community in Malaysia.

Trust me, ask your friend in the US or Europe – and chances are they do not have it there locally.

So what is chicken chop? It is essentially a deboned chicken leg (with only the knuckle on) served with sauce and sides.

The chicken leg can be grilled or deep-fried, breaded or unbreaded – and comes in variety of sauces such as brown sauce, mushroom, black pepper, Mexican and tomato-based Hainanese sauce. Sides are usually coleslaw, fries, salad or mashed potatoes.

Chicken chop is so popular here that the cut is even available at the local grocers/butchers.

For this recipe, we take inspiration from one of our favourite kopitiams in SS3, Petaling Jaya that sells Western food for dinner. Unlike other Western joints, they also serve this garlic sauce chicken chop that’s really yummy. Hands up, PJ peeps if you know which one I’m talking about.

So here’s our attempt to replicate that dish. The result is definitely a more homey chicken chop – you get a nice soy sauce-glazed tender chicken chop from the marinade, and a very garlicky sauce that is balanced with the Worchestershire sauce, shallots and mushrooms.

We complemented the chicken with our sides of coleslaw and mashed pototoes (find our milk-free easy recipe here). As the chicken chop in SS3 is grilled – we follow the same and do not bread the chicken.

For videos and step-by-step process, check out our Instagram account @thokohmakan.

Garlic chicken chop [Recipe]

Recipe by ThoKoh MakanCourse: Lunch, DinnerCuisine: Western, Asian, MalaysianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Marinade time

minutes

Our take on a Malaysian favourite “Western food” meal – grilled chicken chop – with garlic sauce.

Ingredients

Chicken marinade
2 pieces of chicken chop
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
Dash of salt & pepper
Garlic sauce
1 garlic bulb, minced
1-2 shallots, minced
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp corn starch
4 tbsp of water
Dash of pepper
2-3 button mushrooms, sliced

Directions

Marinade the chicken
Marinade the chicken with the marinade ingredients. Set aside for at least an hour if possible. Meanwhile, you can prepare the other ingredients.
Cook the chicken
Heat oil in pan and cook the chicken over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Make sure the chicken is cooked thoroughly and set aside.
Make the garlic sauce
After mincing the garlic and shallots, you can blend it in a food processor to make it more fine. I use a pestle and mortar.
Combine the Worchestershire sauce, salt, pepper, corn starch and water in a bowl.
Heat up oil in pan. Saute the garlic, shallots and mushrooms until fragrant.
Add the mixture above to the pan. Let the sauce simmer. Adjust with water or corn starch to get the required consistency. You may also adjust seasoning to taste.
Turn off the heat. Pour the sauce over chicken, or in a side dish. Serve with your choice of sides.