These baked chicken drumsticks have a wonderful sweet, sour glaze on the outsides. The outside is a dark brown and slightly crisp. The meat is cooked well and thoroughly, so each bite has a caramelized baked crisp with juicy meat inside. Soy sauce gives a lot to meat. Being an acidic liquid, it helps tenderize chicken drumsticks and adds flavor. As this is used with honey to coat the chicken drumsticks, it helps give a glaze to the outside while not letting you forget the taste of the meat inside. Honey being thick, acts as a wonderful coat for the drumsticks. It imparts sweetness and, added with some brown sugar, balances the sourness of the soy sauce. I have used sambal oelek to give a little heat to counter the sour and sweet flavor and balance the taste. Sambal is a simple Indonesian chili paste made of four ingredients – chili peppers, water, vinegar, and salt. It is slightly different from sriracha sauce as it has no sugar. You can use any other chili paste instead. The ingredients needed to coat and mix with the chicken drumsticks – Soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, chili sauce, and oil, need to be mixed in a small bowl. Apply the wet sauce all around the drumsticks using a brush. Preheat the oven to 200 °C or 400 °F. Put the pan containing the drumsticks and bake at 200 °C or 400 °F for 40 minutes. At around 25 minutes, take the pan out and flip the drumsticks to get even cooking on all sides. Garnish with mustard and minced green onions. This recipe does not need salt because soy sauce and sambal are salty enough.
