For the love of sriracha

A couple of weeks ago I promised a post about this recipe – but life got in the way and we didn’t make it until this week.  Sriracha is one of those amazing and awesome things – the most common version here in the U.S. is made by Huy Fong foods in California, and apparently bears little resemblance to the Thai version made in the actual town of Si Racha.  The bottle with the green lid and the rooster on the front is a staple in our fridge, and on the table at most Thai restaurants.

I originally found this recipe because I was trying to find a way to use sriracha in the dish itself, and not just as a condiment.  Part of what I like about cooking is that you can fiddle with things.  Sometimes a lot, though that’s not really the case with this recipe – but I just had to do it.  Because, seriously – boil in the bag rice and pre-minced ginger and garlic?

Curt is one of those brave souls who will fiddle with baking, but I am not there yet.

Here is my version of this dish.

Sriracha-glazed chicken with onions and broccoli – serves 3 or 4.

5 TB hoisin sauce

2 TB ketchup

1 TB sriracha sauce (or more to taste)

1 TB peanut or canola oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 TB freshly grated ginger

4 cloves minced garlic

1 TB curry powder (I use Penzey’s Hot Curry Powder)

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into uniformly sized chunks

1 lb. fresh broccoli, separated into florets, or a 10-oz. package of frozen broccoli florets

Cooked rice (white or brown, we used brown) for serving – about 2 to 3 cups

Combine hoisin, ketchup, and sriracha in a small bowl and set aside.  Season chicken pieces with salt & pepper.

Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened but not brown.  Add ginger, garlic, and curry and stir until fragrant (about 15 seconds).  Add chicken and cook about 8 minutes – chicken will be about 3/4 of the way done at this point.

Add broccoli and sauce mixture – stir to coat everything in the sauce.  If you’re using fresh broccoli, you may want to add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to help with steaming it and to keep the sauce from burning.  Cover and cook about 5 minutes, or until broccoli is tender and chicken is fully cooked.

Serve over rice, in bowls to make sure you catch all the sauce.

I am a slacker so I neglected to take any photos except of the finished dish.  (Also, it’s next to impossible to take a decent picture in our kitchen at night.  Since night starts at 5 pm now, I am mostly SOL on the pictures.)

The filthy stove is, as always, optional.

Every time we have this for dinner, we wonder why we don’t make it more often.