This post offers an idea rather than a recipe… a simple way of jazzing up plain old chicken. Take a stroll through a grocery store which specializes in food items from a specific part of the world, and keep an eye out for items that you can use to spruce up old favorites. That interesting chimichurri you spotted at the South American market? Try it on a hamburger instead of ketchup or mustard. The plum sauce you found at the Asian grocery store? Give it a whirl on your favorite meatloaf recipe. Today, I’m having fun with a jar of Chinese barbecue sauce.
Chinese barbecue sauce is very, very different from any American-style barbecue sauce I’ve ever tasted. While the ingredients vary from one brand to the next, the jar I selected contains fermented soybean paste. This gives the barbecue sauce a very salty, very earthy flavor – overall, the taste is strong and powerful. A little goes a long way… don’t get carried away. You can always add more sauce to whatever your preparing later!
To create the meal shown at the top of this post, I started with one pound of chicken tenderloin strips (any boneless chicken will work just the same). I placed the chicken in a greased pan and baked it for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. After removing the chicken from the oven, I shredded the chicken using two forks. Finally, I stirred in about 1 cup of Chinese barbecue sauce, and served the coated chicken over cooked jasmine rice. It was delicious. I hope you give this, or something similar, a try. If you find a new use for an unfamiliar condiment, please post a comment below. I’d love to hear about it!
Crowded Earth Kitchen 
Yumm..