Coco-vegetable rice with satay chicken: So good, I took no pictures.
There are two things that I like to do when I don’t want to do schoolwork (well, three, if you count knitting, but two are more likely activities): read and cook.
I’ve been in the mood to cook recently.
Tonight’s dinner was, therefore, a chance to experiment. I joined the Daring Cooks too late to participate officially in the January challenge (though I’m really looking forward to the next one!), but it turned out to be something that I really wanted to try for myself, satay chicken.
To go with it, I made the “coco-vegetable rice” from Jay Weinstein’s The Ethical Gourmet. (I’ve made this before, but I really, really love it.) I’ve been making this recipe for a couple of years, and I think it was this that first suggested to me that “slaw” need not be synonymous with a soggy, stodgy mess of sad vegetables in too much mayo, and that cabbage is in fact delicious. And since cabbage is one of the very few Ontario vegetables available in January, this was a happy discovery. (Even if it is served with rice and coconut, neither of which grew here last time I checked. But still. Cabbage! Local!)
Satay Chicken
Marinade Ingredients:
2 shallots
5 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp grated ginger
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1 chili pepper (I used 1/2 a jalapeno because I had it, but normally would use a whole red or green long chili)
1 lb chicken breasts
1. In a food processor, grind the shallots, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, lemon juice, oil, chili, and spices to a fine paste.
2. Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips. Place the strips in a shallow bowl, tray, or ziplock bag, and spoon on the marinade. Toss to coat the chicken evenly. Place in the fridge for 2 to 12 hours.
3. In a cast-iron skillet, heat coconut oil or vegetable oil. When hot, begin adding strips of marinated chicken. (I had to do it in two batches.) Fry for about 5 minutes, then flip the chicken pieces. Fry for another 5 or so, then test for doneness. Flip again if they need a few more minutes; otherwise, remove from heat.
I served the satay with peanut sauce and tamarind sauce.
Peanut sauce:
3/4 cup coconut milk
4 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1. Mix the coriander and brown sugar together; stir in the lime juice and fish sauce.
2. In a small saucepan, heat the coconut milk and peanut butter on medium-low heat until the peanut butter melts, then stir in the lime juice-fish sauce mixture. Continue to simmer, stirring frequently, until the sauce reaches your desired consistency. (Note: Do not wander away for 10 minutes to do something else. Keep stirring. It tasted delicious, but scraping the burnt layer of the bottom of the pot was a pain.)
Tamarind sauce:
4 Tbsp tamarind paste (note: if you have the tamarind concentrate with seeds, and like I once was, aren’t sure what exactly you’re supposed to do with it, break off roughly 4 tsp of the block of concentrate, put it in a bowl, and just cover it with hot water a half hour or so before you’re ready to make the sauce. When you are ready, mash it up a bit with a fork, and pour off the thick liquid that will result.)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp (or more, to taste) brown or turbinado sugar
1 minced garlic clove
1/2 tsp hoisin (I mainly just added this to thicken the sauce a bit; it also tempered the sourness of the tamarind without making it too sweet. I’m pretty sure that this is not authentically Thai, but none of these recipes are so far as I know.)
1. Stir all of the ingredients together. Add a dab more hoisin sauce if you feel it needs to be thicker, and adjust the tamarind/soy sauce/sugar to taste to balance the flavours.
Coco-Vegetable Rice
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups jasmine rice (or sticky rice)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp salt
1/4 head cabbage
1/2 carrot, grated
2 cups bean sprouts
1 small red onion, finely sliced
1 small Thai chili or jalapeno, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
juice of 1 lime
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp vegetable oil
a few drops sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
1. Shred the vegetables finely (except the bean sprouts; just toss ‘em in) and toss together in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, rice vinegar, sugar, oil, sesame oil, and salt. Toss the dressing into the vegetables.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the coconut milk, water, shredded coconut, rice, and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for 20 minutes. Let it stand for 10 minutes.
3. When the rice is ready, combine with the slaw.
