Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying Ellie Krieger’s cookbook, The Food You Crave. The light and healthy recipes have actually inspired me to step out of my little box and try new things. Most of you know that I have a big problem with main dishes containing sweet ingredients, Terry on the other hand doesn’t seem to mind them. We gave EK’s Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Sauce a try. I will have to say that I was won over, and quite shocked by that fact. I will include the Spicy Peanut Sauce Recipe here, but I will also give the recipe it's own post, as EK says it is great as a dip with fresh cut vegetables.

Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock
• 1/2 cup lite coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 shallot, sliced thin
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce (or 2 additional teaspoons low sodium soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon lime zest
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast pounded slightly and cut into 1-inch strips

Directions

8 (8-inch) bamboo skewers, soaked for 20 minutes

• 3/4 cup Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce, recipe below
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh basil or cilantro leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped toasted peanuts

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the chicken stock, coconut milk, soy sauce, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime zest, and ginger. Add the chicken strips and marinate for 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade.

Spray a nonstick grill pan with cooking spray and preheat over a medium-high flame. While pan is heating, thread chicken onto skewers. Grill 2 to 3 minutes per side, until meat is cooked through and has light grill marks.

Serve chicken skewers with Peanut Dipping Sauce, and garnish with basil or cilantro and chopped peanuts.

Yield: 4 servings (2 skewers and 2 tablespoons peanut sauce per serving)

Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce:

• 1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon red curry paste
• 1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Sauce can be made 1 day ahead of time, and will keep 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator.

Yield: about 1 1/4 cups

Ingredients for the Chicken Sate Marinade.

Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

Add the chicken that is cut into strips, I used chicken tenders.

Refrigerate the marinating chicken for at least one hour, I marinated for about 4 hours.

After soaking the skewers for at least 20 minutes, skewer the chicken.

I poured the remaining marinade over the chicken so it could continue marinating while I let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes before grilling. Discard after placing chicken on the grill.

Grill in a single layer until one side it cooked through, the cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken.

Turn the chicken over and finish cooking on the other side. This can also be done on a grill pan indoors.

Remove the chicken from the grill and place onto a clean platter.

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate my favorite protein, chicken, into our diet. As I have mentioned before, we eat chicken at least four times a week. Ellie Krieger's Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Sauce is an interesting way to shake up our usual weekly menu. I opted to marinade my chicken for about 4 hours, instead of the 1 hour called for. Be sure to soak the skewers for at least 20 minutes, I forgot to do this and we had a couple of them go up in flames! The chicken itself is very flavorful due to the marinade, this could be eaten and enjoyed without the sauce. I am not going to lie, I was very weary about trying the Spicy Peanut Sauce. After watching Terry react well to the taste, I decided to be brave and give it a go. It was actually really good! I was very proud of myself for venturing out of my comfort zone and trying something new. Soba Noodle-Vegetable Salad, also an EK recipe was served along side, this is also a dish worth repeating. It could be my disorganized nature, but this meal took quite a while to prepare. In the future, I would not make this on a week night. Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Sauce is a great meal to serve to guests on a weekend evening.

-Heather