Grilled Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

This is one of the few recipes I can call my own. After much trial and much more error, I have reproduced one of my favorite things to order at Thai restaurants. This was a great relief for me last year as I was far too poor to actually go out to eat more than once in a blue moon, and it has served me well ever since.

4 boneless skinless small chicken breasts (or 2 of the huge ones from Costco)

Marinade:
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 in. piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 tsp fish sauce
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS honey
1 TBS sweet red chili sauce


Peanut sauce:
6 TBS crunchy peanut butter, preferably the kind you grind fresh at various hippie stores.
1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped or Thai red curry paste to taste (start small)
Juice of 1 lime
3 TBS coconut milk
1 TBS sweet red chili sauce

1. Rinse chicken breasts. Cut them into strips about 1" wide x 2" long x 1" thick (about the size of two bites).

2. Mix all marinade ingredients remembering to make the spiciness to your taste (but don't completely forgo it, trust me. I'm a wimp.)

3. Marinate chicken for a few hours or overnight, rotating breasts occasionally. While you marinate the chicken, soak your skewers in water by setting them in a cookie sheet or another lipped sheet full of water.

4. Heat grill to medium-high heat.

5. While grill is heating, thread the marinated chicken strips on your skewers, 2-3 strips per skewer, depending on the size of your skewers. If you didn't soak your skewers, you will want to cover as much of the skewer as possible to prevent it from burning on the grill.

6. Once grill is heated, grill skewers 3 1/2 to 4 minutes on each side until chicken is cooked through.

7. While chicken is cooking, prepare the peanut sauce by blending the sauce ingredients in the blender until grainy but not super chunky. You may need to add some salt if you have fresh-ground peanut butter. Adjust to your taste preferences, adding more hot/sweet/or salty as needed.

Serve with sticky rice, curry, or veggie kabobs.

Jerk Chicken

This chicken smacks of summertime. I think the recipe was found in a grocery store ad from Oregon and it caught my husband's eye. I thought it looked like a hassle and I (mistakenly) thought I didn't like jerked chicken and took no part in its historic inauguration. Alas, It was downright incredible and ever since then, this has sort-of been my husband's thing. It's ludicrously flavorful, sweet and tangy. I can never believe that it's good for me, but it really is!

Jerk Chicken
6 Green onions
1 onion chopped
A bit of jalapeno or habenaro, seeded (I'm a wimp so I barely use any)
3/4 C soy sauce
1/2 C white vinegar
2 TBS olive oil
3 TBS brown sugar
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 tsp each nutmeg, allspice, and cloves

1. Place all the above ingredients in the blender and puree.

2. Marinate 1 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts in the sauce overnight in the fridge.

3. Grill on breasts on med-high 6 minutes on each side until cooked through. We didn't have a grill when we first made it, so we threw everything in a large pan and cooked it in the marinade (sort-of curry style).

4. Garnish with fresh sliced limes and serve with sweet potatoes, rice, coconut shrimp or grilled veggie kababs.

Easy & Amazing Marinade

• Just combine: 
• 
  
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
  
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 1/4 cup ketchup
  
• 1 tablespoon canola oil (* I think I may have used olive oil in ours...) 
  
• 1 tablespoon molasses
  
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh gingerroot (* I used the dried ginger from the spice aisle) 
  
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard (* I used dijon for this b/c it's all we had, and it was great!)
• This makes an incredibly yummy marinade for chicken. We marinated chicken breasts and made sandwiches. SO good. I highly recommend this next time you are looking for a way to jazz up your chicken.