Crock pot Asian-style chicken drumsticks

Arriving home to the smell of dinner in progress is pretty nice, especially on cold days.

You could hire a personal chef to get things started while you're at work, but for most of us, the slow cooker is the more realistic option.

The Parkdale Food Centre, which is part of the Ottawa Food Bank's distribution network, has been giving out crock pots, ingredients, cooking lessons and recipes to its clients.

This week's D is for Dinner crock pot recipe comes from Jason Laurin, chef at Essence Catering.

He's one of the volunteer instructors at the Parkdale Food Centre's crock pot cooking workshops.

Asian-style chicken drumsticks

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup honey.
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar.
• 1/3 cup Shaoxing vinegar (if not available, balsamic can be substituted).
• 1/3 cup soy sauce.
• 6 garlic cloves, minced.
• 2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger.
• 1 tbsp. hot sauce.
• 10 chicken drumsticks (many people remove the skin; it's optional).
• Cilantro.
• 4 green onions sliced finely.
• toasted sesame seeds.

Directions:

1. Take all sauce ingredients and put in a pot over medium high heat until bubbling and reduced a little. Take off heat and cool slightly.
2. Place chicken in the crock pot and cover with the sauce. Make sure to get it well coated.
3. Cook on high for four hours, or on low for eight hours.
4. Just before serving, slice green onions and chop cilantro, and put some on each bowl. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
5. Serve with jasmine rice and steamed long beans.