Sometimes a meal is worth a little effort.  This one though, is not a lot of effort, just a bit of planning ahead.  You can impress them all without wearing yourself out.

I use boneless, skinless chicken thighs, a staple purchase in my chicken.  Instead of my standard spice mix and grill process, I cut the thighs into 4-5 pieces and make a marinade/dipping sauce with curry powder, ginger, chili and peanut as the main players.

For a simple side, I throw together peas with cumin seed and unsweetened coconut.  Served with a cooked grain.  I also like grilled pineapple with this as well.  Makes for a lovely meal but its pretty straight forward and easy to make.

I fixed this for my family this weekend.  It was a big hit all around and they insisted that I promise to make it again….soon!

You’ll need:

For the Satay sauce/marinade:

1/2 Tbs Garam Masala powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground mustard  powder

1 Tbs garlic chili sauce

2 cloves garlic

1 Tbs fresh ginger paste

1 Tbs coriander chutney

1/3 cup natural crunchy peanut butter

2 Tbs tamari or soy sauce

6 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

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7-8 pieces of skinless boneless chicken thighs

Coconut Peas

Grape seed oil, as needed

1 tsp cumin seed

1 12 oz bag of frozen peas (get a quality brand)

3 Tbs unsweetened dried coconut, shredded

3 cups of a prepared grain of your choice

 

Now the planning….

The night before or the morning of the dinner:

Make the marinade/sauce.  Combine all the ingredients in your food processor and run until smooth.  Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and place in a sealable plastic bag.  Add half of the sauce to the chicken.  Seal the bag removing as much air as possible.  Squeeze and squish the bag to coat the chicken well with the sauce and place in the frig.  Flip over every few hours if possible.  Refrigerate the remaining sauce to serve with dinner.

One hour before dinner:

Remove the chicken from the frig to warm up.  Start your grain preparation. (Once cooked, keep covered and warm on the stove.) Take chicken out of the marinade bag and thread chicken pieces onto metal skewers.  Fire up the grill and clean the grates.  Once the grill is hot, reduce to medium high heat.  Place skewers on grill and cook for 5 minutes on each side.  Remove from grill and loosely tent.

Ten minutes before dinner:

Heat a skillet over medium high heat.  Add grape seed oil and cumin seeds.  As soon as seeds begin to darken, add the frozen peas and stir while peas begin to thaw and become bright green.  As soon as the peas are hot, remove from heat and add the coconut.  Stir to combine and sprinkle with a pinch of salt if desired.

Serve cooked grains and coconut peas next to each other.  Remove chicken from skewers and serve with remaining sauce.  Expect lot of complements.  Enjoy!