Recipe Series Part 5 - Thai food!

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

and Coconut Jasmine Rice

from: The Cook's Encyclopedia of Thai Cooking
This is one of my favorite Thai recipes. It is very easy to make and tastes better than most Thai Resturants!

Serves Four
Ingredients:4 skinless, boneless chicken breast portions (or how many you need for your family)

For the Marinade:

2 Garlic cloves, crushed (I use fresh minced)
1 inch piece of Fresh root ginger, finely grated. (You can get marinated ginger in a jar in thai section of the grocery store. It's red)
2tsp Thai Fish Sauce (add it, it's yummy!)
2TB light soy sauce1 TB clear honey

For the Satay Sauce
6 TB crunchy Peanut Butter
1 fresh red chili, seeded and finely chopped
juice of 1 lime
4 TB coconut milk
salt

Slice chicken into strips, or chunks. Put all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl, and mix well, then add the chicken and toss together until thouroughly coated. Cover and leave for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator to marinate. (The longer you marinate, the better)

Meanwhile, soak 16 wooden satay (or kabob) sticks in water, to prevent them from burning during cooking.

Make the Satay Sauce.
Put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth, then check the seasoning and add more salt or lime juice (or peanut butter) if needed. Spoon the sauce into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside. (This sauce is pretty thick, but I like it better than any others I've tried!)

Preheat the grill or broiler to high. Drain the satay sticks. Drain the Chicken. Thread chicken on sticks. Grill or broil, for 3 minutes on each side, or until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Serve immediately with the satay sauce!

This is SUPER YUMMY with Coconut Jasmine rice, or plain Jasmine Rice.

Coconut Jasmine Rice

Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 cup water
2 cups coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 TB sugar
2 2/3 cups jasmine rice (this is usually sold in grocery stores. super yummy rice)

1. Place the measure water, coconut milk, salt, and sugar in a heavy pan.

2. Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water until it runs through. (This gets the extra starch off- I use a colander)

3. Add the Jasmine Rice to the liquid, cover tightly with a lid and brint to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently, without lifting the lid unnecessarilky, for 15-20 minutes, until the rice is tender and cooked through.

4. Turn off the heat and leave the rice to rest in the pain, still covered with the lid, for a further 5-10 minutes.

5. Gently fluff up the rice grains with a fork before serving.

Cook's tip from the book:For a special occasion serve in a halved p apaya and garnish with thin shreds of fresh coconut. Use a vegetable peeler to pare the coconut finely, as you would when making curls of Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!