BBQ Chicken Legs

Dallas finally, finally has a Trader Joe's! I have heard so much about the wonders and peculiar items that one can find at TJ's I can't wait to go and check it out for myself. I wouldn't know what to get though...but we'll see, I'll let you know what I find :)

Another happening is that I made this...

And discovered that my mom had a rice cooker, it's one of those mini rice cookers, it's so cute. See I'm not all baking powder and sugar, I cook (huge grin) too. The idea for these legs came from a mini version of wings that Brian and I had a couple days ago only I used char siu sauce which is Chinese barbeque sauce. So obviously I made steamed rice too! And since I was inspired I dug up an Asian infused cheddar sauce for broccoli I had steamed.

BBQ Chicken Legs

Ingredients

• 1 pack of chicken legs (the family size pack I bought came with 10 pretty hefty legs)
• 1 jar of char siu sauce (Chinese bbq sauce)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Coat a deep baking dish with cooking oil, I used grape seed oil.  Arrange your chicken legs, hahaha, in the baking dish, a 9 x 13 dish worked perfectly for 10 chicken legs. Bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes take the baking dish out, the chicken will not be done yet. In a large bowl pour the barbeque sauce and generously dip the entire legs in. You can use a pastry brush to better coat them but dipping and swishing them around works too.

Cover a large baking pan with aluminum foil (the bbq sauce can be really hard to wash so use foil or parchment paper). After the legs are covered in bbq sauce arrange them on the baking pan and bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes.

Steamed Rice

I used a tiny rice cooker, but you can use a medium sized pan I've done it that way too.
* Tip: 1/4 cup of uncooked rice will make 2 cups of cooked rice. So depending on your pan or pot calculate your measurement.

Ingredients:

•  1/2 cup rice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions:

In a medium bowl soak rice in water and drain the water, do this until the water is clear. Then in a medium sized pan place the rice, add the water and unsalted butter at low heat. Cover the pan, but let the lid out a little bit so it steam can escape. Let it steam for 15-20 minutes then turn off the heat, of course check your rice at around 10 minutes to make sure if it's steaming correctly, if you see the water really low and your rice is still not ready add 2-3 tablespoons of water. After you turn off the heat, leave the lid completely on until you're ready to serve it.

Asian Style Cheddar Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 cups broccoli
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (dark or light, I used dark)
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil  (olive oil works too)
• 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Directions:
In a medium sauce pan boil 2 cups of water, once it begins to boil place  broccoli and remove once it turns bright green (2-3 minutes). Remove broccoli from heat and drain all of the water immediately, this will prevent it from over cooking and turning a murky green. 
In a small saucepan heat unsalted butter over medium add in flour and combine until mixture darkens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mustard, milk, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil; simmer,  until it thickens about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese until just melted; season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over broccoli and it ready to serve.

Thank you for reading and be sure to come back again...I have cookies ;)