Sticky Chili Chicken with Hot-and-Sour Pineapple with Jasmine Rice
Oooooooh boy. This dish is delicious, but it’s also SO PRETTY! This might be one of the best food pics I’ve taken! I don’t use a fancy camera, just my phone, but I do try to edit just to make sure things are straight and bright enough. This one looked good with no editing. But can we talk about how it tasted? Have mercy, that sauce. It’s tangy and sweet, a little vinegary, and just enough heat from the chili paste and pepper flakes. YUM.
I used Gochujang which is a Korean chili paste, it’s more earthy and warm that hot, and just regular red pepper flakes. I did cut back the pepper flake to about 1 teaspoon (recipe calls for 2) just because I didn’t want to melt my own face off. If you’ve been paying attention, you also know there’s no way in hell I put cilantro on there, it’s parsley. The only thing I will do next time (yes there will be a next time) is lower the heat on the oven a bit, 375 or 400, and cook just a little bit less time. The heat was too high and it cooked down the sauce a little more than I cared for, I want more sauce to spoon over that rice!
Speaking of rice, I always use Mahatma Jasmine rice. 1:1 ratio of rice to water, a pinch of salt, and 4 minutes in the Instant Pot, let it depressurize naturally. The trick is to RINSE YOUR RICE first. Yes it’s annoying and takes time, but it really helps your rice not be so sticky. Rinse until the water runs clear. I have tried to cook rice on the stove a few times, and the IP is so much easier, I can finish cooking while the rice does its thing.
So, there’s week 2 from Nothing Fancy, Alison Roman. We’ll see what Jarrod picks out of Jacques’ book for next week! Stay tuned!
Cheers! ~ Jen
