Mini Mondays-Olympic Edition: Sliders Around the World

As has been well documented on this blog, I love anything that is miniature.  What you may not be aware of is my love of the Olympics.  I have been looking forward to the 2012 Summer Olympics  since pretty much the minute the Beijing Olympics ended 4 years ago.  My excitement reached a fever pitch in May or June of this year (just ask Cole, I did a little happy dance every time an Olympics commercial came on TV).

Anyway, I knew that for this month's Mini Mondays I had to figure out a way to somehow incorporate the Olympics.  So Cole and I brainstormed and we came up with the idea to make chicken sliders inspired by various different countries.  I went a little overboard with this, I'm not going to lie.

Sliders Around the World

Slider Rolls

What you need:

1/2 c warm water

2 1/4 tsp quick rise active dry yeast

1 tsp honey

1/4 c butter 

1/2 c milk

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

3 1/3 c flour

Sesame seeds (optional, but highly recommended)

What you do:

Stir together honey and yeast into the warm water and set aside.  Melt butter in microwave until it's completely melted.  Add milk and 1 egg to the melted butter and stir well to incorporate.  Pour the butter/milk mixture into stand mixer bowl.  By now, the yeast mixture should be foamy.  Go ahead and pour that into the mixing bowl too.  Add in salt and 2 cups flour.  Stir until the flour is fully incorporated using the dough hook for the mixer.  Add the remaining flour slowly.  The finished dough should be smooth, but still somewhat sticky (you may need a little extra flour).  Lightly oil the bowl and dough, cover and let rise for 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size (if you let it rise for more than 1 hour it's not going to hurt anything).  After you let it rise, punch down the dough and form into golf ball sized balls (you should get at least 18 rolls).  Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, or spray the cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  Do NOT use wax paper thinking that it is the same thing as parchment paper (not like I've done that or anything).  They are not the same thing.  Trust me on this.  Let the dough rise for at least 30 minutes (or longer, like I said, a little extra rising time never hurt anybody).  When you're ready to bake the rolls mix 1 egg with a couple tablespoons of water and brush the egg wash over the rolls.  Bake at 350* for 12-15 minutes.  They should be golden brown when done. 

Sliders

What you need:

Slider rolls

Various sauces and cheeses detailed below

Grilled chicken breasts (cut chicken into cutlets before you grill them)

Optional: Someone to grill the chicken for you when it's 107* out and you don't feel like standing over a hot grill.  And yes, I do have great creeper paparazzi photo skills.  

Today, we're featuring recipes from India, Thailand, Italy, China, Mexico and, of course, America (USA! USA! USA!  Sorry, I couldn't resist)

 America
Buffalo Chicken Sliders

What you need:

Frank's Red Hot

Bleu Cheese

This one's pretty simple.  I just put some Frank's Red Hot on top of the grilled chick and topped that with some bleu cheese.  Just please, please, please do NOT undersauce.  You will need more than you think.  

India

Ghost Pepper Chicken Sliders

What you need:

Ghost pepper sauce

Cheddar cheese

This one is also very simple.  Just put some ghost pepper sauce on top of the chicken and top with cheddar cheese.  Be careful with this one, ghost pepper sauce is deadly.  I would err on the sided of undersaucing this one (and I hardly ever recommend undersaucing)

Thailand

Thai Curry Chicken Sliders

What you need:

Sliced Jalapenos.

1/2 c coconut milk (I used light coconut milk)

2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp Sriracha (hot chili sauce)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp corn starch

Mix everything but the jalapenos in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking continuously.  Reduce heat and let the mixture simmer for another couple minutes.  

I used this sauce kind of like mayo.  I spread it on the bun and put a little extra on top of the chicken and topped with a couple slices of jalapeno.

Italy

Caprese Chicken Sliders 

What you need:

Sliced tomato

Mozzarella Cheese

Basil mayonnaise 

Spread basil may on the bun.  Top the chicken with mayo and tomato.  Simple.  Delicious.  Molto bene. 

China

Sweet and sour chicken sliders 

What you need:

Pineapple

Bell pepper

4 T brown sugar

1 T ketchup

1/3 rice vinegar (or white vinegar if that's all you have)

1 tsp soy sauce

4 tsp cornstarch dissolved into 4 tsp water

Mix brown sugar, ketchup, rice vinegar and soy sauce in a small sauce pan over medium high heat and bring to a boil.  Add in the cornstarch and water mixture and stir to thicken.  

Put the sauce on top of the chicken on the bun.  Top with pineapple and bell pepper.

Mexico

Enchilada Chicken Sliders

What you need:

Enchilada sauce (I used canned sauce and added some cumin and chili powder)

Sour cream

Tomatillo avocado salsa (or guacamole)

Cheddar cheese

Sliced jalapenos

Top chicken with enchilada sauce, salsa, sour cream and jalapenos.  Make sure you have a napkin for this one.

And now I know you're dying to know who the medals were awarded too.  These were all delicious, so it was not an easy decision.  We both agreed that Italy came in a strong third, and they were awarded the bronze medal without much debate.  However, the judges had a difference of opinion as to who won gold and who got silver.  Personally, my favorite for the Thai Curry Chicken Slider.  It was the perfect amount of sweet from the coconut milk and spicy from the curry and Sriracha.  Cole, preferred the Sweet and Sour chicken slider.  The sweet and sour sauce was, well, the perfect combination of sweet and sour.  The pineapple and bell pepper added a nice contrasting texture to the chicken.  However, since it's my blog, my opinion obviously reigns supreme (plus my brother agreed with me), therefore the gold medal is going to Thailand.  China was a dark horse for me.  I was not expecting to like it as much as I did and I am very happy to award the silver medal to China.