What to do with Chicken Thighs?

I am not a big fan of chicken thighs; I don't like dark meat on poultry, and they are too fatty for my tastes. My hubby and his family though don't agree, so I usually make the thighs just for them...either fried or barbequed. His mom likes to pick up grocery items when they are on sale, and have me cook them up, and what did she buy....you guessed it, chicken thighs.

I didn't want to pull out the deep fryer; I didn't want to put the oven on to have them roast in barbeque sauce; I wanted something a bit more creative this time around. Southwestern....no, Italian....no; lets go a little Asian this time; but instead of the usual sweet and sour sauce, lets use up the apricot and pineapple jams in the pantry.

Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into pieces
3 cups dried seasoned bread crumbs
peanut or canola oil for frying
1 cup each sugar snap peas, chopped broccoli
1/2 cup each chopped onion, red, yellow and green bell peppers
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup each apricot, pineapple jams

Preparation:

In a large bowl, coat the chicken with the bread crumbs. Fill a large skillet with about 1-1/2 inches of oil and bring temperature up to 375F. Fry, about 5 minutes, 12 pieces of the chicken at a time and drain on paper towels.

When all the chicken is done, remove all the oil but 2 Tbsp; place into the skillet the vegetables, soy sauce and ginger; mix and cook for 7 minutes. Add back the chicken and mix in jams, making sure to coat all the chicken and vegetables. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour