Cooking with Dr. Monkey

Today's episode: firecracker chicken.

A Facebook friend posted this recipe and it looked good so I decided to try it.

I started by making the firecracker sauce first.  It consists of one third cup of hot sauce, I used Choulua chilli and garlic hot sauce, one tablespoon of water, two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, one half teaspoon of salt, red chili flakes, and one cup of brown sugar.  I added a dash of Sriracha hot sauce to give it a little more bite.

Next I preheated my oven to 325 F.

Then I chopped one and a half full chicken breasts into bite sized chunks, which I then coated in corn starch and dipped in egg.

I then browned all my chicken pieces in my big ol' non stick frying pan.  After they were browned a bit I put them in a greased 13 x 9 Pyrex baking pan.

Once all the chicken pieces were brown enough and in my Pyrex pan, I poured the sauce over them and sloshed it around to make sure all the pieces got covered.  Then I popped the chicken in the oven for about 45 minutes.  As it cooked, I basted the pieces.

And that's what they looked like after 45 minutes in the oven.  I served the chicken over white rice and we had a side of fresh green beans with it.

The verdict: this is a damn fine chicken dish.  It starts sweet but ends up with a little spicy hot kick.  I'll definitely make this one again,  Although next time I'll add more salt, and ramp up the Sriracha to add even more heat.  The way it turned out this time the spicy heat took a back seat to the brown sugar, and I'd prefer it to be the other way around.  Use any hot sauces you like if you decide to try this one.  A word of warning though, this isn't a good dish for young kids, unless they have adventurous palates.