Tangy Thai Chicken on the grill

Tonight was supposed to be a grilling night, but the rain came down, so we used the indoor grill pan instead. This recipe is from Good Times, Good Grilling: Surefire Recipes for Great Grill Parties by Cheryl and Bill Jamison and is fairly simple but very tasty . Here's a link to the book on Amazon should you want to check it out for yourself:


The Recipe:

Tangy Thai Chicken

Simple to make, with easily found ingredients, but exotic and complex in taste - that's the beauty of these breasts. Serve them with white rice or on mixed greens with a peanut oil vinaigrette.

Serves 4.

• 1 tbsp store-bought red or green Thai curry paste, or more to taste
• 2 tsp peanut oil or vegetable oil
• 1 can (15 oz) coconut milk
• Salt or Asian fish sauce (also called nam pla or nuoc mam) optional
• 4 medium to large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded 1/2 inch thick
• Store-bought sweet Thai red chile sauce
• Chopped peanuts or chopped fresh mint, basil, or cilantro, or a combination

Make the marinade, first combining the curry paste and oil in a bowl and stirring until the paste is softened. Mix in three quarters of the coconut milk and taste the mixture. If it tastes bland now, it will taste even blander on the chicken, so add more curry paste, and salt if needed, until the mixture is pleasantly pungent. If the mixture becomes too spicy, add a little more coconut milk. Place the chicken in a zippered plastic bag, pour the marinade over it, and seal the bag. Toss back and forth to coat the chicken evenly. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes while you prepare the grill. For a more intense flavor, marinate for up to several hours, refrigerated.

Fire up the grill, bringing the heat to medium (4 to 5 seconds with the hand test).

Drain the chicken, discarding the marinade. Grill the chicken for 10 to 12 minutes total. Turn onto each side twice, rotating the breasts a half-turn each time for crisscross grill marks.

After each side of the chicken has faced the fire once, brush them with a few tablespoons of the chile sauce. The chicken is ready when it is white throughout but still juicy and the surface is a bit chewy and caramelized in spots.

The breasts can be served whole or thickly sliced and mounded on a platter. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts or herbs or both, and accompany with additional sweet chile sauce.

Adding a Personal Signature:
Turn from Thailand to India for inspiration. Replace the coconut milk with about 1 cup of plain yogurt and replace the curry paste with good fresh curry powder or garam masala. Skip the chile sauce glaze, but do sprinkle with cilantro before serving.

Use the chicken as a filling for summer rolls. Dampen Asian rice paper wrappers briefly in warm water and pat off excess water. Then roll up chicken shreds and all the garnishes into 1-inch-diameter cylinders with the ends tucked in (like a burrito). For dunking, serve with the sweet Thai chile sauce or mix some of the sauce into about an equal amount of white vinegar.

My results:

So, here first are my ingredients as used in this test:


The only thing not shown in this picture is the sweet chile sauce. I used Aroma Chef's Thai sweet chile sauce which we picked up at the local grocery store. The coconut milk and fish sauce both came from our local Asian market, but I know a lot of regular grocery stores are carrying both these days. I began with the red curry paste and oil as instructed and then added the coconut milk. It tasted pretty bland so I added more curry paste (about 1 more tsp) and about 1 tbsp of fish sauce. Then it tasted a bit hot, so I added the rest of the coconut milk. It tasted about right at that point when I spied half a lime I had left over from another use and decided to add the lime juice in, so added the juice of half a lime :) That was perfect. Tossed the chicken into a baggy and then tossed the sauce in with it and tossed it around to coat. Because hubby was going to be later than expected, I threw this in the fridge for about a hour and a half while I waited for his arrival. Here's a pic of the marinated chicken, just before I heated up the grill pan:


Next, I heated our grill pan on medium high heat for 5 minutes to throughly heat the surface and placed the breasts on the pan. Set the timer for 5 minutes, turned and rotated them and set the timer for another 5 minutes. After this turn/rotate, I glazed one side of the breasts with the chile sauce and let cook for 2 minutes, then the other side and again, 2 minutes. They came out perfectly cooked and beautiful! And boy were they ever yummy! Here's a photo of the finished breasts before we devoured them:



We served these with white jasmine rice and sautéed zucchini (which I just happened to have on hand) and they were wonderful! I could definitely see these in a summer roll or even on a Thai-style salad, somewhat like yum nuah. Very good and definitely a recipe we'll do again. Perhaps I'll let the chicken marinade a little longer next time, but other than that, this was a winner! Check back tomorrow for more recipe fun!

Thai tastes really good!

So the Thai experiment went very well today. I started with making a green curry paste with fresh ingredients, but you can choose to use a bottled or canned version if you prefer. I then used some of that curry paste in a Green Curry Chicken with Eggplant dish that was a big hit with hubby and brother-in-law. Fair warning, this curry paste is HOT, although the author mentions in her side notes to the recipe that you can tame the heat by either removing the seeds from the bird chilies and/or using fewer chilies. Since we like our Thai food hot, we loved this as is, but you may want to start with a milder paste or use less of it in the final dish if you don't.

Here is the recipe for the curry paste that I began with:


The Recipe:

Green Curry Paste

3 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh green chilies (about 15 bird's eye chilies)

1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, coarsely chopped

5 shallots, coarsely chopped

4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 tbsp chopped galangal or fresh gingerroot

3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro roots or stems

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp shrimp or anchovy paste (optional)

1. In a food processor or using a mortar and pestle, combine chilies, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, galangal, lime leaf, cilantro and water. Blend until coarsely chopped.
2. Add coriander, cumin, pepper and shrimp paste, if using. Process until a paste forms, scraping down sides of food processor. Add extra water 1 tsp at a time, if necessary.

Makes about 3/4 cup.

Make ahead: Cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze in small portions for up to 3 months.

And here are the assembled ingredients:



As I mentioned in my previous post, the three most difficult to find ingredients, the lime leaves, Thai basil (in the chicken dish) and lemongrass can usually be found either in your better grocery stores or in your local Asian market. They would also be a good source for the Thai bird chilies. I have purchased them there in the past and have quite a few stashed in my freezer which I used for this dish. For those who are unfamiliar with these chilies, they pack quite a punch for such a small package, so be extra careful when preparing them and make sure to either wear gloves or wash you hands throughly after working with them so as not to burn any sensitive portions of your anatomy :) Here is a link to a great on line source for Thai groceries. I have purchased from them in the past with great success:




For this recipe I followed the directions pretty much to the letter, using ginger root instead of galangal as I didn't have any on hand and omitting the shrimp/anchovy paste as again, it was not on hand. I used about 25 bird chilies since they were small and the end result was VERY HOT! When used in the chicken dish though, we thought it was the perfect amount of heat for your average Thai food lover, but for the two of us (hubby and I) I might even use a little bit more... Here is a photo of the completed paste:




To me it looked more like a well processed salsa than a paste, but worked wonderfully regardless. I did end up using a bit more water when finishing the paste to get it to puree smoothly. From this you will only use 2 tbsp in the following dish, so the rest can be refrigerated or frozen for later use. I froze mine in a ziplock bag so I can snip off as needed for future use.

Next came the actual dish we used the paste in, Green Curry Chicken with Eggplant!

The Recipe:

Green Curry Chicken with Eggplant

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp green curry paste

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp palm or brown sugar

1 1/2 cups diced Asian eggplant

4 lime leaves

1/2 cup fresh sweet Thai basil leaves

1 tbsp lime juice

2 tsp sliced fresh red chilies (optional)

1. In a wok or saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add curry paste and stir-fry for 1 minute, or until fragrant, but be careful not to burn.
2. Add chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, sugar, eggplant and lime leaves. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked and eggplant is just tender. Remove from heat.
4. Stir in basil and lime juice and garnish with chilies, if using.
Makes 4-6 servings.

Variation:
Green Curry Chicken with Bok Choy:
Omit eggplant. Add 8 halved baby bok choy (about 2 inches long) for last few minutes of cooking time.

Again, a photo of my assembled ingredients. You will notice that those are NOT Asian eggplants. Our local grocery did not have any Asian eggplants in stock, so I went with traditional black beauties, but definitely will try the Asian variety next time can get them. I also used brown sugar rather than palm sugar since that was on hand.



I followed the initial directions for this dish but had more eggplant than called for (about twice as much) and a little more chicken than called for (about 1.5 lbs total). I also chose, in the end, to add the remainder of the coconut milk from the can (about 1/2 cup additional) and then at the very end, prior to adding the lime juice and Thai basil leaves, mixed in a slurry of cornstarch to thicken the broth just a bit. I used about 1 tbsp of cornstarch dissolved into 2 tbsp of the left over chicken broth which I brought to a boil before removing the dish from the heat in the end. Here is a photo of the dish simmering away on my stovetop:




I didn't think it looked very pretty when it was cooking , but adding the Thai basil at the end brightened up the color so it was indeed very pretty on the table. Here is a photo of the finished dish along with the sides I chose, steamed Jasmine rice and edamame.



And finally of the dish in it's finished state:



This served three hungry adults with enough left over for at least two more portions. Both hubby and brother-in-law said they loved it and hubby said the flavors were "right on". I really enjoyed the soft silkiness of the finished eggplant which takes on a kind of custardy consistency and the fresh Thai basil lent that licorice-y taste that brightens up the whole dish. All in all this was a big hit and one we will definitely do again. I hope you will try it too and let me know how it goes... Tune in to the blog tomorrow for a use for leftover rice... old fashioned rice pudding!

New day, new recipes, new cookbook!

Today is "Thai Day" in our house. We'll be experimenting with making our own green curry paste and then using that paste in a dish for dinner. Thai food is one of M and my favorite kinds of food and learning to cook Thai-style has been an ongoing adventure for us. I have made several Thai dishes in the past, but always use jarred or canned curry paste, so making my own will be fun. This will be a green curry when I usually use red, so another turn in the adventure. I grow lemongrass, Thai basil and have a Thai lime tree (kafir lime) growing in a pot, so the three most difficult to get ingredients aren't a problem for me, but for those of you out there without such resources, your local grocery or ethnic/Asian grocery can probably provide you with the resources you need. You can usually find fresh lemongrass in the produce section of better groceries these days and the lime leaves and basil can often be found in the frozen section of Asian groceries. Today's cookbook is the Complete Book of Thai Cooking by Linda Stephen. Here's a link to it on Amazon for those interested:


I'll post the recipes and my results later today, but wanted to give you a head start on the book. The recipes we'll be using are on pages 205 and 207, Green Curry Paste and Green Curry Chicken with Eggplant. I'll post more later!