Spicy Asian Sloppy Joes

Finger Licking Good!

I am on a big Asian cooking trip in my house! I am not sure why, but it's something about the flavors of Asian food that I can't stop craving. Yesterday, my Asian Sticky Chicken were so tasty, I decided to take those same flavors and turn them into a sloppy Joe. 

I told you yesterday about the importance of a well stocked, Asian pantry. If you keep these ingredients on hand, you can whip up some Asian sauces in minutes. 

My Asian barbeque sauce consisted of ketchup, brown sugar, sriracha, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, low sodium soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar and fresh grated, ginger. Place all these ingredients in a stock pot, bring to boil, then simmer 5 minutes and all done!

Don't forget to peel the ginger first then grate it. I always store my ginger in foil paper in the frig or stick it in the freezer if you don't plan on using it all up within a week.

To prepare the Sloppy Joes, start with a little olive oil and saute all the veggies for about 5 minutes.

Brown the ground the turkey in the veggie mixture, then add the tomato paste. As I told you when I make Italian ragu, add the tomato paste before all the other wet ingredients because we need to "bust" open the tomato paste.

This was not my invention, I was watching Martha Stewart and Rao's make pasta sauce, probably over 10-15 years ago and I heard him tell Ms. Martha, that's how it's done, and I've done it that way every since.

They have a Rao's restaurant in Las Vegas, I must visit ASAP, if I can get a seat, I heard it's the best Italian Restaurant in Las Vegas!

Back to the sauce, after we bust open our tomato paste, add our tomato sauce and Asian barbeque sauce, allow it to cook about 8 minutes more and serve on soft, fresh, Hawaiian dinner rolls. 

They turned out perfect! Yep...I said it...perfect...nice balance of spicy, and the Hawaiian rolls balances out the spice, with a nice sweet note. 

Yep...these are finger licking good. Baby Girl said, ma, what happen to, use your napkin when you eat...I told her we're taking a day off from our table manners...lol.

Spicy Asian Sloppy Joes

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey
12 Kings Hawaiian dinner rolls
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 stalks green onion, diced
1 tablespoon, fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon creole seasoning
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
1 6oz. can tomato paste
1 6oz. can tomato sauce
extra virgin olive oil
Asian barbeque sauce (recipe below)

For the Asian barbeque sauce:

3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons sriracha
2 tablespoons soy sauce, low sodium
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon creole seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon fresh, ginger, grated

Directions:

To prepare the Asian barbeque sauce, place all ingredients into a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk well, bring to a boil, simmer for about 5 minutes, remove from heat and set aside.

To prepare Sloppy Joes, add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a pan over medium heat, add onions, bell pepper and celery, saute for about 5 minutes, add garlic and saute for about 1 minute more.

Add ground turkey to pan, cook for about 8 minutes are until browned, season with all spices, add tomato paste and cook 5 minutes more. Add tomato sauce and mix well.

Pour in Asian barbeque sauce, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Serve on Hawaiian rolls and enjoy!