Saturday, October 15, 2022

Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom (Faux) Stir Fried Rice

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These Fiery Asian Drumsticks pack the flavor and heat!


Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice on the Grilla pellet grill
Fiery Asian Drumstick with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice


The chicken has the tidal wave of Asian flavor from Lane's Q-nami Rub and the dark sweet flavor of Japanese BBQ sauce. Q-nami has heat from black pepper and chiles and notes of umami, the "fifth taste." The Japanese BBQ sauce reminds me a lot of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) with a dark, almost smoky, sweetness.  [kecap manis Affiliate Link]

Knox Asian Food Festival

The flavors were inspired a few weeks back when we went to Knoxville's Asian Food Festival at World's Fair Park. 

It was a beautiful day in World's Fair Park for the multitude of Asian food trucks and booths with cultural information about various Asian countries. 

Grilling up skewers of deliciousness and feeding the throngs of people.

Daddy-O's, based out of Maryville, serves up delicious Philippine food in a bus styled like the jitneys in the Philippines.

Fried potatoes on a stick were popular, no surprise.

The festival is a wonderful way to experience some of the excellent Asian food from restaurants and food trucks across East Tennessee, all in one place.

But the food was only half of the story. Various booths and displays shared information about their native culture and offered hands-on activities....or "feet-on activities," as is the case here.

Fiery Asian Drumsticks

The drumsticks were quite simple. I spritzed 6 chicken legs with peanut oil and then seasoned them rather heavily with Lane's Qnami Rub. I put them on the smoker at 275°f and let them go until they hit an internal temperature of about 160°f, which took about 1 hour. I then glazed the legs with Japanese BBQ sauce, boosted the temp up to 350°f, and finished the legs off until they reached an internal temperature of 175°f about 15 more minutes.


The Grilla original pellet grill is a fantastic design of function and beauty
My weapon of choice for this cook was my Grilla pellet grill. I've been using their original model for 6 or 7 years now. I still think it is a fantastic design of function and beauty. The unique shape gives it a small footprint and a convective vortex effect. 

Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice featuring Lane's Q-Nami Asian Fusion rub
I'm a big fan of Lane's Q-Nami when I want Asian flavor and heat. It has turbinado sugar, black pepper, kosher salt, garlic, ginger, coriander, and togarashi. Togarashi includes chiles and seaweed (and more), so that's where the heat and umami get their invitation to the flavor party.

I was excited to find Bachan's Japanese Barbecue Sauce in a local grocery store. Japanese Barbecue Sauce is excellent on just about anything, but we like it on shrimp and chicken. It's made of soy sauce, sugar, mirin, garlic, ginger, rice wine vinegar, tomato paste, green onion, and sesame oil, so it has a darkly sweet flavor. Its body is thinner than American-style BBQ sauces, and it brushes on easily. 
Bachan's Japanese Barbecue Sauce [Affiliate Link]


Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice on the Grilla grill
My setup was straightforward. I had the Grilla set to 275°f and put the chicken on a rack/pan combo on the upper shelf of the cooker.

The Grilla grill features a swing lid that lets you just take a peek or open it all the way. Quite unique in the grilling world.
That swing lid is one of the unique design ideas that I love. You can open it 180 degrees to get full access for things like putting the food in, spritzing, and sauces. Alternatively, you can open it just a sliver to peek at the food without letting all of your heat out. 

Using the Thermapen IR to temp check chicken legs
Using my Thermapen IR to temp-check the drumsticks. My sister gave me this Thermapen, and it has become my favorite one. Why? Because in addition to the super-fast readings of a traditional Thermapen, the Thermoworks folks added a non-contact thermometer on the bottom so I can check the surface temperatures of things like griddles and skillets.
Thermapen IR [Affiliate Link]

Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice on the Grilla pellet grill
Going back in the grill after glazing. Notice how the color has already improved courtesy of the Japanese Barbecue Sauce.

Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice
Crispy with the sauce cooked onto the legs and ready to come off the grill.

Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice
Isn't that swing lid a cool feature?


I didn't think of the rice idea until the legs were already on the cooker. I wanted to do stir-fried rice, but that requires you to already have rice cooked and cooled down, which would take 40 minutes before I could even start the stir-fry.  So instead, I used the Asian flavors with the pilaf method, which took about 25 minutes in total.

Mushroom (Faux) Stir Fried Rice

www.nibblemethis.com

Published 10/15/2022

I came up with this dish when I wanted to make a mushroom stir-fried rice, but I only had about 20 minutes and did not already have cooked and cooled rice on hand. Although this has the flavors of stir-fried rice, I use the pilaf cooking method instead of stir-fry. We used baby Bella mushrooms, but a mix of Bellas and shiitake would be ideal.

Ingredients

  • 2-3 tablespoons oil
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled
  • 8 ounces mushrooms, stemmed and diced
  • 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
  • 1 cup jasmine rice
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1.5 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1.5 teaspoons chile-garlic sauce

Instructions

  1. Preheat a medium saucepot over medium heat. Add oil and toast the garlic until turning a light, golden brown, about 1 minute. Remove the clove and reserve it for later.
  2. Saute the veggies. Add the mushrooms and saute for 1 minute. Add the bell pepper and saute for another minute. Stir in the onion and go for one more minute.
  3. Saute the rice and garlic. Mince the reserved garlic from step one. Add the rice and garlic, tossing to coat the rice in the remaining oil. Stir frequently until the rice gives a nutty aroma, 1-2 minutes.
  4. Simmer the rice. Add the stock, soy sauce, and chile-garlic sauce and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, slightly reduce heat, cover tightly, and cook until the rice has absorbed all the liquid, about 18-20 minutes.
  5. Rest and fluff the rice. When the rice is done, let it rest covered for 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt or soy sauce as desired. Fluff and serve.

Yield: 3 cups

Prep Time: 00 hrs. 10 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 25 mins.

Total time: 00 hrs. 35 mins.

Tags: side dish, vegetarian


Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice
Grab a leg!

Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice
Lane's Q-nami always delivers. I liked mine just like this.

Fiery Asian Drumsticks with Mushroom Faux Stir Fried Rice
Alexis drizzled some Yum-Yum Sauce over hers.