Thai Chicken Sliders

So last week I showed you how to make fabulous slider buns.  This week, a filling that’s worthy of them.  Thai chicken with peanut sauce.  If you’ve ever had chicken satay in a Thai restaurant, the flavor will be very familiar to you.  Not only is it absolutely delicious, but it’s made in the slow cooker, which is becoming my best friend in the summertime.  My a/c has a hard enough time keeping up without my oven adding to the heat. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 onion
• Juice of a lime
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce*
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 Tablespoons curry powder
• ¼ - ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tablespoon chopped, fresh cilantro 

*Traditionally satay uses fish sauce as well, but hubby is allergic to fish.  If you want to use it, simply replace one of the tablespoons of soy sauce with fish sauce. 

Squeeze your lime juice into a bowl. 

Add the soy sauce

Molasses (no I didn't measure it, but if you don't trust your eyeballing skills, go ahead and do so)

Sesame oil

Sugar

Curry powder (just use whatever your favorite is)

And red pepper flakes.  ¼ teaspoon is pretty mild, so adjust for how spicy you like things. 

Whisk that together. 

Peel your ginger. 

Grate that into your sauce.  I used about half of this piece which gave me probably 2 teaspoons.

Because I was already dirtying my microplane, I used that for my garlic, as well. 

Just grate in 2 cloves, then whisk again and set the sauce aside. 

Into your crock pot go two chicken breasts and a chopped onion.  As you can see, I diced the chicken, but I actually recommend leaving them whole or perhaps cutting them into quarters.  I’ll explain later. 

Pour the sauce over the top and stir until everything is evenly coated. 

Put the lid on and turn on the crock pot.  I cooked mine on high for an hour and low for another 3 ½.  Basically, you want the chicken to be tender enough to do this. 

Here’s what you’ll need for the peanut sauce: 

• ¼ cup peanut butter (use something natural)
• ¼ cup unsweetened coconut milk (I used light)
• 1 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder 

Put the peanut butter and coconut milk into a bowl. 

Stir them together until they’re nice and smooth.

Add the remaining ingredients

And stir them in.

It will probably be a bit thick, so add coconut milk, one tablespoon at a time, until you get something drizzle-able.   

Now remove your chicken and shred it with forks, adding sauce from the crock pot as needed.  This is the reason for leaving the chicken breasts in larger pieces.  My small pieces meant tiny shreds.  Longer shreds would give it a bit more chew.   

Chop your cilantro

And add it to the chicken. 

Pile the chicken onto one of your fabulous homemade buns.

Drizzle on the peanut sauce, and don’t skimp.  It really is the perfect accompaniment. 

Who says sliders have to be regular old hamburgers?

What’s your favorite slider?

Because Little Buns are in Fashion

Sliders are all the rage right now, and to be honest I think it’s great!  Not only are sliders cute (we all know little things are cute) but because of their small size, they’re easy to eat, and you get to have more than one!  That definitely appeals to our greedy nature, and it also allows for variety.  For those of us who are somewhat decision impaired, that’s a very good thing.  These little buns are perfect for your summertime cookouts.  (I’m converting to the local lingo.)

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• ¼ cup warm water
• Pinch of sugar
• Packet of yeast
• ½ cup hot water
• ½ cup milk
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4-ish cups flour

 

Into your mixing bowl go the ¼ cup warm water (think bathwater temp), pinch of sugar, and yeast.  Stir them together and set that aside. 

In a measuring cup combine the hot water and the milk, which should also land at warm. Add the butter and give it a minute to melt.

Once it has, add the egg and whisk everything together. 

Now back to your yeast.  It should be showing signs of life by now, in the form of bubbles mostly. 

Pour in the milk mixture.

Stir that together and add 2 cups of flour along with the salt and sugar. 

Mix that together until you have a nice batter consistency.  Add another 1 ½ cups of flour and mix until it comes together. 

If it looks like this, with a large area still sticking to the bottom of the bowl, you need more flour. 

This is what you’re looking for.  It should almost completely remove itself from the bowl.  I know it it’s a shaggy mess, but a few minutes of kneading will fix that. 

Allow it to knead for 5 minutes or so, or if you’re kneading by hand, probably 10 minutes.  Either way, you’ll need to butter a large bowl. 

When your dough is ready it should be smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky. 

Place it top side down into the bowl, then turn it and flip it over so that it has butter on all sides. 

Cover with a damp towel and set aside to rise. 

You want it to double in size.  That will probably take about an hour, but it depends on the temperature of your house.  You’ll know it’s ready when it looks something like this. 

Dump it out onto a floured surface and deflate most of the large bubbles with your knuckles. 

Cut off a small piece of dough and flatten it into a disk. 

Pull all the edges together to form a ball.

Then place it on an unfloured surface and move it in circles with your hand.  You should have a nice smooth ball about the size of a ping pong ball. 

Place it onto a parchment lined sheet pan. 

Keep your balls covered with a damp towel as you work so they don’t dry out. 

Continue doing this until you have 24 balls of dough.  I had a little extra dough left, so you could probably actually get 28 out of this recipe.  I just used the extra for a little dessert thing. 

Flatten them out a bit. 

Then, as before, cover with a damp towel and set them aside to rise. 

Generally, the second rise doesn’t take as long, so maybe 45 minutes or so.  They should be nice and puffy. 

This is probably a good time to preheat the oven to 375°.  Then, in a small dish, combine an egg and 1 Tablespoon water.

Beat thoroughly with a fork. 

Using a pastry brush, apply a small amount of egg wash to the top and sides. 

Repeat until each roll is coated. 

Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top. 

Or, if you’re like me, sprinkle some of them with sesame seeds, some with poppy seeds, and some with dried, minced onion.  I did mention I’m slightly decision impaired, right? 

Bake for 15 minutes.  They should be nice and golden on top and around the edges.  Move them to a rack to cool. 

Here are the sesame seed ones

The poppy seed ones

And the onion ones. 

Take your pick.  They are all fabulous.  I have actually done a batch since these and used all three toppings together.  They were basically “everything” buns and they were absolutely delicious.  Don’t limit yourself to just burgers on these little buns, either.  I made Sloppy Joses on some of mine, and next week I’ll be showing you a fabulous Thai chicken slider that is to die for. 

What is your favorite thing to put on your buns?