06 February 2011

Sriracha Chicken & Green Rice

On reading this I had to make this Sriracha style hot chilli sauce.  I am a fan of heat and especially when combined with the sweet and the sour.  The combination of all those chillies, garlic, fish sauce and vinegar was all just too much to pass on.  It is also one of those recipes that you can easily tweak to suit your own taste depending whether you like the spicier side of life, a little more sweetness or lean more towards the wonderful hot and sour tang of the vinegar and fish sauce.  I am firmly on the fan side of fish sauce so always like to add just an extra little splash.
Hot Chilli Sauce – Sriracha style, adapted from White on Rice
Ingredients:

1 cup chilli peppers - the fieriness of the sauce will of course depend on the the heat of the chillies, so use less or more as you wish.  I used about 3/4 of a cup as that is what I had.  They were long red chillies so not too fiery. Next time I would hunt out some smaller chillies for a touch more fire.
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup, 250ml tomato sauce
1 small can tomato pulp or chopped tomatoes
1-2 tbsp fish sauce 
3 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp brown sugar, white work too I just prefer the depth of flavour the brown sugar adds.

Directions

To prepare the chillies, remove the stems and rinse clean.  Pat dry and mince the chillies.  The finer you chop the smoother the sauce.  To avoid any unwanted chilli to eye contact you can wear rubber gloves while you do this. 

Heat the oil and add the garlic and shallot, saute for a moment or 2, just until fragrant.  Add the tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes and the chillies.  Bring the sauce to a simmer and then lower the heat.  Add the fish sauce, vinegar and sugar and mix it all together.

Simmer for about 5 minutes, which will bring everything together and make for a smooth sauce.  Remove the sauce from the heat and let it cool completely.  Once cool place in a blender or use a stick mixer to blend until smooth and most of the chilli skin and seeds have broken down.

Then taste!  At this point you can add more of what you like...sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, water.  Blend once again and pour in to clean, sterilised jars and refrigerate.  It will keep for about a week in the fridge...if it lasts that long. It is hot, sweet, tangy and sour, you really must just make some for yourself.

It has become a go to sauce for me as it will liven up just about anything and make for a quick easy fiery supper.   It was delicious over some salmon fillets and baked in the over for 15 minutes or so.  The hot and the sour and the tang really cut through the richness of the salmon.  Served with a simples salads dinner in 15 minutes.

Sriracha Salmon, Grilled Zucchini & Green Rice
It will give chicken thighs a bit of kick too, so this was dinner the other night with some green rice on the side.  The fresh green flecked rice a good companion for the tangy Sriracha Chicken.  I came across this emerald green herb flecked rice when I was going through a little bit of a Mexican phase, but it doesn't have to be relegated to only being served with Mexican fare as it is just an excellent way to brighten up rice and it goes wonderfully well with grilled chicken or fish.  A fresh fragrant paste is whizzed together and then mixed in with the rice while it cooks to infuse the rice with all its flavour.


Sriracha Chicken with Green Rice, Green Rice adapted from Thomasina Myers in Mexican Food Made Simple

Ingredients

Serves 4

For the chicken

4 chicken thighs
A few good dollops of Sriracha sauce
Salt and pepper

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 190C / 375F
Season the chicken thighs and place them in a baking dish.  Top each with a generous dollop of Sriracha sauce.  Bake for 25 - 35 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear.

For the Green Rice

Ingredients
Serves 4

400g basmati rice
1 clove garlic
1 small onion
1 red chilli
2 handfuls coriander
1 handful parsley
4 tbsp olive oil
600ml chicken or vegetable stock, or water also works.
1 handful, cooked peas
Salt and pepper

Directions

Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear.

Pre heat the oven to 120C / 225F

In a food processor whiz together the garlic, onion, chilli, coriander and parsley with a splash of water and half the olive oil to a thick green paste.  Heat the remaining oil in an oven proof saucepan with a lid, and add the paste.  Fry for about 5 minutes and keep stirring to avoid the paste burning.


Add the rice and stir well to mix everything together.  Pour in the stock and simmer for 15 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.  Cover the rice with some greaseproof paper, place the lid on the saucepan and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Stir in the peas, taste and season with salt and pepper.



This rice went down an absolute treat at a Mexican themed dinner party, but it just livens up any meal.  It is fresh and fragrant, comforting and satisfying all at the same time.  And not to forget it just looks so appealing.

Plate up the chicken and serve with the green rice on the side.  The chicken was juicy, sticky, sweet, spicy, garlicky.  The green rice fresh, fragrant, light and aromatic.


Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. OMG - that chilli sauce looks amazing - spectacular colour, and I am totally loving the idea of that green rice - pretty sure I'll be trying this before the weeks out :-)
    Sue

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  2. Cant wait until my chillis finely turn red, def trying that sauce:) Green rice, my fav!

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  3. Yes you must try this sauce it really is quite special :)

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  4. Oh, you even made your own Sri Racha! Impressive! I have a nice little award waiting for you on my blog:)
    BTW, open your comment box all the way to revela Name/Url - it does not show. I have to sign up with my Google account, which does not lead to my blog:)

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  5. Ms Bibberche - thank you so much - my first award! And think I have the commenting sorted....need to brush up on my technical skills!

    ReplyDelete

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