Pad Thai Sliders

Let me start by saying that fish sauce has a distinct odor. I only say this because my son had a friend over and as soon as I began making the sauce, the entire house began to stink and everyone was pulling that childish gagging sound. I’ll admit, I do not mind the smell because I know that when the sauce is made, well, it is a pretty darn amazing sauce.

Start by adding the sauce ingredients into a small saucepan. Bring it to a simmer, stirring along the way to dissolve the sugar. You want the sauce to reduce by about a quarter or half of the amount for these sliders. Once the sauce has thickened and reduced, remove pan from heat, set it aside in a small bowl and let it cool.

Now for the sliders. Add the chicken and pork into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt, pepper and garlic paste. Now it is time to get dirty. If you have never worked with ground chicken, it is a bit sticky. Using both (clean) hands mix the meats, incorporating everything until you have a nice mixture. At this point I like to cover the bowl, and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour to let the flavors come together.

Heat a large non stick skillet on medium heat. During this time divide the meat into 12 equal portions and shape about five of the patties. Put the rest of the meat back in the refrigerator. You want the patty to be shaped like a burger patty, about the size of the slider bun. Wash your hands really well.

Add one tablespoon of the oil to the preheated skillet and give that a swirl. Add the 5 pad Thai patties to the skillet, bring up the heat to a medium high and let these caramelize for a few minutes. During this time, wash those hands again.

When the bottom side of the patties are nice and caramelized and brown, flip the patties and let them cook another few minutes, ensuring that the chicken and pork are cooked through. These should be done after about 5-6 minutes per side. Towards the end of the process, drizzle a bit of the pad Thai sauce over each patty, about one tablespoon per patty. The sugars will begin to caramelize as well. They look and smell pretty darn amazing at this point.

Remove the patties from the skillet and place into a small casserole dish. Place the dish in a non-heated oven, just to stay warm.

Repeat with the remaining patties.

Now let’s make the sliders.

Take the bottom of the slider bun and add about a tablespoon of the pad Thai sauce to lightly coat. Add some of the shredded carrots, then a pad Thai patty, then top with chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, and fresh cilantro. Drizzle with just a bit more pad Thai sauce, then top with the top slider bun.

My boys were just going for a bun with a pad Thai patty, but I encouraged them to add the veggies. They were hesitant to do this, and almost resistant, but they soon realized that the combinations and textures made this plain old patty something amazing. Did I mention my oldest wolfed down three of them, while the other boy had two?

These pad Thai sliders are something original and delicious and puts a whole new spin on pad Thai. I hope you enjoy.