Food ‘n Flix: Spirited Away: Japanese Chicken Legs

I’ll probably only be updating this blog this year with my Food ‘n Flix participation, but it is such a fun challenge. This month’s movie was hosted by Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Check out the announcement for how you can participate.

Spirited Away is a movie about a young Japanese girl who, with her parents, is moving. They find themselves in an abandoned village, where her parents find this restaurant and began devouring all the food. And by doing so, they turn into pigs! Like literal hogs. During the course of the movie, Chihiro is faced with challenges to get to a point where she can break the curse and get her parents back, in human form.

While not my favorite of movies, it was still cute. The imagination throughout was fun and did wave a great plot line together.

I was inspired by the scene where Chihiro’s parents devour the food and turn into pigs. Her mom appears to be eating some type of poultry. There are dumplings, rolls. I probably would have eaten all that food too. But I decided to try my hand at these Japanese Chicken Legs. My 13-year-old announced at dinner that they were the best chicken drumsticks she’s ever had.

Other ideas I noted:
* fish head
* some kind of spiral rolls
* dumplings
* fried rice
* radish
* red berry
* rice balls

Japanese Chicken Legs

Ingredients

1 cup water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 garlic clove, peeled but whole
1 habanero pepper, seeds removed but whole
6 chicken legs, skin on

Directions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, mix together all the ingredients except the chicken. Bring to a boil.
2. Add the chicken legs. Allow the sauce to boil again and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Cook until the chicken has cooked thoroughly and the liquid has turned into a glaze.

• Serve with brown rice and broccoli.
• Makes 3 servings of 2 legs each.
• This dish is also being shared with Farm Fresh Tuesdays Blog Hop.