Kitchen Conundrum

Crispy, Sriracha Spiced Chicken Bites Recipe

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20120223-photo-1I’m not gonna lie. I am addicted to Sriracha lately. Addicted! The spicy, sharp flavor combined with a bright, zesty lime and a hint of sweetness from either sugar or honey is one of my favorite taste combinations. My current favorite “snack” comes from Food 52- the Sriracha Fried Brussels Sprouts. I usually can eat the whole pint of sprouts by myself when made with this recipe. It’s that good. (Albeit, a bit of a mess to make- frying Brussels sprouts is dangerous and they splatter hot oil everywhere!!!! Use a very, very deep pot-like a stock pot with a screen on top! Just a warning!)

And since it’s a flavor I love,  I have been experimenting a lot with it to make the perfect sauce for dipping my crispy fried chicken bites into.

Here’s what I came up with and it’s now my ‘go to’ recipe. It makes more sauce than you need, but I like to use it on other things- like broccoli or cauliflower or even over fish.

 

 

Crispy, Sriracha Spiced Chicken Bites

For the Sauce:

Ingredients

½ cup rice wine vinegar

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1/3 cup Mirin

¼ cup Sake

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon dried crushed chili flakes

5 tablespoon Sriracha hot sauce

1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 3 tablespoons water

Juice of 1 lime

Method

In a large saucepan, over medium high heat, add the rice wine vinegar, sugar, fish sauce, Mirin, Sake, garlic, chili flakes and Sriracha in a sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your likening. (I love the hot, but sometimes, it’s too hot- so I’ll add a dash more Mirin, Sake and Fish Sauce to balance.)

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5-6 minutes.

Add the cornstarch-water mixture to the pan and stir until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and let cool. Squeeze in the lime juice and mix to incorporate. Set aside until ready to use.

For the Chicken:

Ingredients

2lbs boneless chicken breasts, sliced into cubes

½ cup rice flour

½ cup Panko bread crumbs

½ cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup milk

Method

Create your breading station by adding the dry ingredients into one bowl and the eggs and milk into another bowl.

Dip the cubed chicken into the egg and milk bowl then into the dry ingredients. Coat to cover.

Return the chicken to the egg mixture and then again to the dry ingredients to recoat.

Set all the coated pieces of chicken on a large plate and let stand in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees in a deep pot or fryer.

Add a few pieces of the chicken at a time to the hot oil being careful not to splatter yourself! Don’t overcrowd the oil. Cook the chicken bites until golden brown. Remove to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain. Repeat until all the chicken is cooked.

In a large bowl add the cooked chicken and drizzle some sauce over the top to coat. You may not have to use all of the sauce, so coat with as much as you would like. Give the chicken in the bowl a quick toss around in the sauce and serve.

The remaining sauce will keep up to a week in the fridge tightly sealed.

Serve over your favorite rice with a side of steamed broccoli and you’ll have your own ‘take out’ for the night!

The bites also make a great appetizer or snack!

 

Ultimate Fajitas

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We love to make fajitas because the kids really enjoy making their own variations using lots of different ingredients. Then, they can wrap everything up and eat with their hands.  Who doesn’t love to eat with their hands?!  It’s fun for all of them.

We call these Ultimate Fajaitas because we try to get as many garnishes into the wrap as possible without losing anything out the sides. Sometimes, we just have to eat them open faced.

Fajitas-3

I am listing all the ingredients we serve with them- but you can pick and choose what you like to use in yours.

 

Ingredients

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into thin strips

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 large red onion, sliced

4 mild green or red Chili peppers, seeded and sliced into strips

2 Red peppers, cut into strips

2 Yellow peppers, cut into strips

1 Green pepper, cut into strips

8 flour tortilla, warmed

Method

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet; cook the chicken strips over high heat, 5-7 minutes, or until fully cooked. Drain and remove to a plate.

Add the onion and chili peppers to the pan and sauté over high heat for 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers cooking over high heat for 4 minutes or until the vegetables have begun to have a blackened look around the edges.

Return the chicken to the pan and heat until sizzling hot. Serve right away, with warm tortillas, and many, many garnish options.

Small Bowls filled with the following garnishes:

1/2 cup sour cream

Guacamole (preferably homemade!) or avocado slices

1 bunch cilantro, broken up

1 large vine ripe tomato, diced

1 can black beans, heated through

1 can refried beans, heated through

Fresh corn kernels, roasted or 1 can corn, drained completely and heated in a large skillet.

Diced jalapenos

Diced Ancho chilies

Taco sauce

Montery Jack cheese, shredded

Cheddar cheese, shredded

Yellow rice, cooked per package instructions

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Za’atar Crusted Chicken with Pomegranate Cous Cous

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Tired of the same ole chicken dinner on a Tuesday? Well tonight we bring a hint of the middle east to dinner.

Israeli cous cous, is one of our home’s favorite grains. If you can call it  a grain. It’s more like a pasta side dish that is on it’s own is nothing fancy but adding pomegranate arils to the cous cous offers a sweet juicy crunch  that makes this otherwise dull dinner a bit more lively.

We actually started using za’atar after a trip to Israel. There was a restaurant there that coated the ends of the pitas that they sliced to use for falafel sandwiches with oil, crusted them with za’atar and fried them. It was a delicious treat made with something that most places just threw away. Now, we can’t get enough of this spice mix. It’s perfect to add to your chicken breading. Try it!

 

Ingredients

4 Boneless Chicken Breast (trimmed and pounded thin)

2 eggs beaten (plus 1 tbsp water)

¼ cup za’atar

1 cup Panko

1 Tbsp Paprika

Salt and pepper

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 Lemon, cut in quarters

Method

Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl beat the egg and water together.

In a shallow bowl combine the za’atar, panko, and paprika.

Dip the chicken breast into the egg to coat, and then dredge in the panko/za’atar mixture.

In a large sauté pan heat the oil then add the chicken, if the pan isn’t large enough you may have to cook the chicken in two batches.

Cook approximately 4-5 minutes per side.

Serve with a slice of lemon.

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Israeli Cous Cous with Pomegranate

Ingredients

1lb Israeli cous cous

½  shallot, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups water

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground pepper

¼ cup chopped parsley

½ cup fresh pomegranate arils

Method

In a medium sauce pan heat the oil, add the shallots and garlic then sauté until translucent.  Add the cous cous and stir to coat with oil.

Season with the salt and pepper.

Add the water and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot.  Cook until all the water is absorbed and tender.

Fluff with a fork to separate.

Before serving fold in the parsley and pomegranate arils.