Chickety-China-the-Chinese-Chicken

This dish is sweet, salty, and a little spicy; perfect served over a bed of white rice. It's quick and easy and tastes just like Chinese take out! So good!

---

Ingredients:

--8 chicken thighs *boneless, skinless

--3/4 cup dark brown sugar

--1/3 cup cold water

--1/3 cup fish sauce

--1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

--1 TBSP soy sauce

--4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

--1 TBSP grated ginger (you can use ground ginger as well)

--1 tsp vegetable oil

--2 jalapenos, finely chopped

--3 stalks green onion, sliced; divided

---

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, water, fish sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and ginger until sugars completely dissolved. Set aside.

2. Dice chicken thighs into small, bite sized pieces. Trim off any large piece of fat.

3. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat, add chicken. Pour in 1/3 cup of the mixture over the chicken and cook until a syrup-like consistency; approx 5-7 minutes.

4. Add the remaining mixture and cook until chicken is tender and cooked through; sauce should also thicken up into a sticky glaze; approx 7-10 minutes.

5. Stir in jalapenos and 1/2 of the sliced green onion, heat until warmed; approx 2 minutes.

6. Serve immediately over rice, top with remaining green onion.

---

BBQ Sauce (for Pulled Pork Sandwiches)

**THIS TAKES 2 HOURS OF SIMMERING TIME, so it's best to make the sauce while your pork is in the slow cooker, or even a day before.

It makes a fairly good amount...and I haven't taken the time to figure out the correct amounts to reduce it to so there'd be less; so I just usually bottle this up in old ketchup bottle and save it in the fridge for next time. Be sure you label it "BBQ Sauce", because my husband mistook it for ketchup and put it on his hamburger one night. Oopsies!

---

Ingredients:

--2 cups ketchup

--1 cup water

--1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

--1/4 cup sugar

--1.5 tsp pepper

--1.5 tsp onion powder

--1.5 tsp ground mustard

--2 TBSP fresh lemon juice

--2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

--1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

--2 TBSP light corn syrup

---

1. In a saucepan, mix the ketchup, 1 cup water, brown sugar & sugar, pepper, onion powder, ground mustard, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar and corn syrup; place over high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally; then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, continuing to stir periodically to avoid clumps, for at least 2 hours.

2. Let cool, then use on pulled pork or store in your fridge until ready to use.

Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I'll start by saying, if you don't pair this with an apple slaw, then just don't make it. It really is best when it's all together. The roast ends up so tender, and the BBQ sauce (recipe on blog), combined with apple slaw is delicious. I just get store bought Apple Slaw (I think it's Dole)...but it's fantastic with this. I'm sure you can Google some apple slaw recipes if you want to make your own, but I prefer that brand.

---

Ingredients:

--one 3-4 lb boneless pork shoulder or roast

--2 cups water

--3 TBSP light brown sugar

--2 tsp paprika

--1 tsp ground mustard

--1/2 tsp cumin

--2.5 tsp salt, divided

--1/2 tsp pepper

--2 tsp vegetable oil

--1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

--3 TBSP tomato paste

--6 potato buns

---

1. To make the rub for the pork roast: combine 1 TBSP brown sugar, the paprika, ground mustard, cumin, 2 teaspoons of the salt and the pepper in a small bowl. Rub the mixture all over the pork.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over high heat; add the pork and cook, searing on all sides, until browned, about 4-5 minutes.

3. Remove the pork and transfer to a plate; quickly whisk 3/4 cup water into the drippings in the skillet, making sure to scrape all the bits from the skillet. Transfer the liquid to a slow cooker. Add the apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, the remaining brown sugar and 2 cups water to the slow cooker and whisk to combine. Add the pork, cover and cook on low, 8 hours.

4. Remove the pork and transfer to a cutting board, allow it to rest while you complete the next step.

5. Strain the liquid into a saucepan, bring it to a boil and cook until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Season with the remaining 1/2 tsp salt.

6. Shred the pork and mix in a bowl with 1 cup of the reduced cooking liquid, discard any remaining.

7. Serve on buns with barbecue sauce (my recipe on blog or your own store bought) and apple slaw.

---