C and I can sometimes be like Mr. and Mrs. Sprat when it comes to eating. C likes leaner cuts while I adore the fattier morsels. C hardly ventures past tomato-based pasta while I love olive oil based ones. I look forward to a good French toast or yogurt for breakfast while C prefers a more Filipino-style, rice and meat/fish dish for his morning meal. C does not really have a sweet tooth to speak of, and when he does he favors fruit filled desserts…while I am a solid chocolate girl.
That being said, we also have a great deal in common food-wise. We love to experiment and try new dishes and ingredients. We love the gastronomic paradise that is Asian cuisine. We both agree that food is an essential part of travel. We both don’t fancy junk food too much. We love eating at home. You know, the important stuff.
And, also very important (at least in my book), we both love spicy food. Our crisper is home to 2-3 different types of fresh chilies at any given point in time. Our pantry is stocked with dried chilies, chili flakes, and various hot sauces and chili pastes. Sriracha is one of our current favorites. It is incredibly versatile. It can be used as a condiment, say in a Vietnamese soup, as a dipping sauce, or even to top a burger. It also works beautifully in marinades or rubs.
Sriracha Chicken Thigh Fillets
- 3-4 tablespoons sriracha (depends how much heat you like)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons pineapple or mango jam (I used pineapple-mango jam…yum!)
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
- 1 1/2 tablespoon chopped green onion
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- Salt, to taste
- 6 chicken thigh fillets
- Canola oil for pan-frying
- Mix all the ingredients, except for the salt and pepper, in a bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt if needed.
- Pound your chicken fillets with a meat mallet (I do this in between 2 pieces of cling wrap to avoid bacterial chicken goo from splattering all over my kitchen) until they are of uniform thickness.
- Take a third of the marinade and pour this over your chicken pieces. Place in the fridge and let the chicken lay in its spicy bath for an hour or two.
- Heat a few glugs of canola oil on a non-stick skillet. When the oil is hot, pan-fry the chicken until they are cooked and have acquired some nice caramelization around the edges, turning once.
- Placed the cooked chicken on a chopping board and slice into strips. Lay on a bed of steaming white rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds (some chopped green onions would be good too but I didn’t have any!).
You can use chicken breast fillets but can I just try to convince you to thighs? They are really so much tastier and come out so much juicier…and are a bit more forgiving when you’ve erred on the side of overcooking. I love them so! But if you cannot abide by dark meat then go ahead and use breast fillets…we’ll still be friends :)
This recipe makes about 2-3 portions of marinade, depending on how you use it. Stash the rest in the freezer for future use...you won't regret it! For another meal, I used roughly 1/3 of the marinade on 3 pieces of chicken marylands (the leg and thigh together) which I then baked. You can also use it on chicken wings, which is I think is the most popular, or any other kind of chicken pieces you prefer. I'm thinking you could even try it on a whole roast chicken, basting with the extra marinade as it cooks. Or on a spatchcocked chicken on the grill (basting with extra marinade as well) if you are lucky enough to have a nice outdoor grilling space. I’m also itching to try it on some pork ribs! So you see, really versatile. If you’ve got some sitting smugly in your freezer, dinner will just be a matter of thawing and cooking.
This recipe is cobbled together based on several I found online. You can even learn to make your own sriracha here.
I’m thankful C shares my love for spice. I always have someone with whom to get goofily excited when finding new spicy sauces and I never have to temper the heat when I am cooking for the two of us (as I often have to do when we are cooking for company). So it’s easy to forgive when he is not to enthused about things like this or that ;)
Happy weekend everyone! And if you are Filipino happy independence day tomorrow! :)
***Thank you M for my Moomin chopsticks! I love them! :)