The Spiciest Chicken (You are Welcome!)

I've had a small obsession with Sriracha sauce for going on 10 years now.  This bottle of atomic fire is my condiment soul-mate.  I can't think of anything I'd rather put on both fried eggs and popcorn and caramels and in cocktails and and and.  It's pure magic packed into a bottle.  I used to get my fix at Pearl River Mart (RIP?) in New York and drown everything in it.  It's got heat, but it's so garlicky and flavorful and good that even the most spice-adverse people can usually handle a couple drops.  Most hot sauces just bring on heat and discomfort, but this is multi-dimensional in what it brings to the table- so much flavor and by the way, some pretty good heat.  

It is almost impossible to find the good stuff here in London.  In Paris, we were in the middle of a worldwide shortage due to a plant in California expelling too much chili fumes into the air ("Deal with it", I say while stomping my feet and pouting).  Now there's no excuse but the market is flooded with cheap imitations of inferior hot sauces with birds such as geese and eagles on the label.  I've tried them and they are terrible- too sweet, not enough heat, loads of preservatives and fake sugars.  I have a nice racket going when friends from the states come for a visit:  I give you a bed, you give me suitcase full of rooster sauce.  It's called "paying rent".  

I have a couple precious Huy Fong bottles saved up that I use much more sparingly than I should.  If anyone London-area knows where I can get the real deal, let me know.  Every place in Chinatown has the wannabe sauces.  Someone told me a place in Croydon might have it, but that's basically going to the ends of the earth for it.  

Here's a recipe that I've adapted from the Huy Fong site.  It's craveable and good and comforting and I make more chicken than it calls for just so I can put it on bread and make a little ban mi sandwich the next day.  The quinoa means it's healthy!  but you could use rice if you aren't a fan.  I haven't tried it yet, but it would work well with fish and take about half the time to cook.  

Recipe: Sriracha Chicken
Serves 4

180 grams (1 cup) quinoa
60 ml (1/4 cup) coconut oil
1 kg (2 lbs) chicken breast, cut into bite sized cubes
1 onion, diced
4oz (1/2 c) Sriracha sauce
4oz (1/2c) honey
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper 
bunch of scallions, chopped
1/2 t sesame seeds, toasted
handful of coriander (cilantro)

Rinse the quinoa a couple times in cold water.  Add the quinoa to a small pot along with 16oz (2 cups) of water with a pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil, than reduce to simmer and cook until all the liquid is absorbed (this happens quickly, so keep an eye on it).

Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, heat the coconut oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until it has softened.  Add chicken and cook until it starts to brown (or, if you have a crowded pan and it won't brown, until it's no longer pink and raw chickeny).  Season with salt and pepper.  

Whisk together the sriracha, honey and lemon juice.  Add the sauce to the pan and let the chicken finish cooking in this spicy mess for another 8 minutes or so, until it is cooked through and the sauce is quite thick.  Stir occasionally.  

Fluff the quinoa with a fork and spread a bed of it on each plate.  Top with the chicken.  Garnish with coriander, sesame seeds and scallion.