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Hawaiian Sticky Chicken is a little sweet, sour, spicy, and crunchy but it’s packed with amazing texture and flavor.

 

I’m on an Asian chicken binge lately.  I don’t know why.  I just am.  Actually, I think it’s more of an Asian binge lately.  I made the Scallion Waffles.  I made the Potsticker Sloppy Joes.  I made this dish.  I am making a sesame sorghum grilled chicken this weekend.  OH yeah.  That’s gonna be delicious.  So, like I said.  I’m on an Asian kick lately.

 

Is it just me or do you go through – I don’t want to call them ruts, but you know what I mean.  Where you just keep eating the same thing or the same style of food for a while?  It’s like getting a song stuck in your head, but it’s with food.  Right? Am I the only one?

 

Moving on.

 

 

Mom always made sure that we were well versed in the kitchen.  Meaning, we had all kinds of food from all kinds of countries.  She would make cabbage rolls and pierogies. She would make a steamed pudding for Christmas.  We always had Mexican because Dad made killer tamales.  Then there was the Chinese food we used to make.  Walnut chicken, egg rolls, dumplings, date wontons.

 

I say Chinese food because it was.  We had the little yellow Chinese cookbook that we would pull out every now and then and make recipes from it.  I can’t remember the title.  That’s just what we called it.  Hot and sour soup, egg drop soup, beef with broccoli, mu shu chicken with pancakes.  Then there were the dumplings and egg rolls.  Mom made killer egg rolls.  I should put that one on the blog, too.  They were so good.  And so good for breakfast the next day, too.

 

 

Please.  Like you haven’t done THAT before.  Don’t judge.  #Noshame

 

Those were fun times in the kitchen.  Not only were we learning about pseudo-traditional Chinese recipes, but the ingredients that went into those recipes.  Like tree ears for the hot and sour soup.  To this day, I have no idea where they actually come from except from a shelf at the local Lotte or H Mart.  I’m so white.  Well, I guess I can’t be THAT white since I go to Lotte or H Mart.  Right?

 

I want to say the chicken with walnuts was one of my favorites if not THE favorite.  Kung pao was a close second, but that had spicy Thai bird chiles in it and I wasn’t a huge fan of spicy when I was growing up.  I know, right?  Crazy!!  I was so boring when I was growing up.  If we went out to a Chinese restaurant, I’d either order beef with broccoli or moo goo gai pan.  To me that was like the chicken and dumplings of the Asian world.  So, I knew I was safe.

 

 

Mom had her work cut out for her.

 

Yes.  I know this is Hawaiian Sticky Chicken, but there’s a HUGE Asian influence to Hawaiian cuisine.  And it’s really only Hawaiian because it has pineapple in it.  Because isn’t everything with pineapple Hawaiian?  At least that’s what it seems like in the food world.  To me anyway.  Everything else about this dish is Asian inspired.  Just like Mom has inspired me to make some delicious ethnic foods and to TRY delicious ethnic foods.  If it weren’t for her, I might not have tried cevapi in Bosnia or bandeja paisa in Colombia.

 

 

But that’s part of what Mom’s job was.  If it was Dad’s idea, we’d have all southern foods like fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, corn pudding, rice pudding, bread pudding.  Lotta fried and a lot of pudding.  But there’s also greens like kale, collard, and beans.  Green beans.  Get it?

 

Not that southern food is bad!!  I love it, too!!  But it’s ingredients that I know.  No branching out there with biscuits and gravy, corned beef hash, barbecue, and cornbread.  Mmmmm cornbread.  I haven’t had that in a while either!!

 

 

What does Hawaiian Sticky Chicken taste like?

 

But honestly, look at that plate of Hawaiian Sticky Chicken goodness!!  You can’t refuse those colors, that sauce, and the nutty brown rice.  It’s sweet, it’s a little sour, it’s a little spicy, it has crunch, it has tender chicken; it’s an amazing meal for your family to enjoy.  Just like we did.  I don’t usually nail an Asian recipe, but this one I really did nail.  It came out exactly the way I wanted it.

 

Who influenced you most growing up and learning how to cook?  What’s one of your most find food memories?

 

Asian Inspiration

• Asian Chicken Slaw Salad by Making Miracles
• Asian Inspired Broccoli Slaw by Art of Natural Living
• Potsticker Sloppy Joes by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Pan-Fried Cabbage and Noodle Buns by Magical Ingredients
• Pork and Shrimp Pad Thai by That Recipe
• Pork Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Szechuan Green Beans and Ground Pork by Cheese Curd In Paradise

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