boneless chicken thighs

Thai Chicken Coconut Curry

I was looking for a simple Thai curry without using curry pastes to flavor it. I was thinking some coconut milk for great flavor and I found a few recipes. I blended two or three together to make the best Thai chicken curry I have ever created. I loaded it with fresh vegetables and love it’s clean fresh flavor. And I hope you will too. You can use different vegetables – what you have and what you like. I found the amount of sauce to be perfect, actually ate it with a big spoon so I could get every soupy bit!

Notes: Please use full fat coconut milk for the correct consistency and flavor. I used boneless chicken thighs. It could be easily made with boneless split chicken breasts. I let my guy eat most of the hot pepper rings, to each his own. I do like how it makes it sing with a bit of controlled heat. Do not leave the fish sauce out; you won’t even know it is in there, but it really enhances the flavor. Enjoy!

Poor quality picture; making this curry again very soon; will take some new pictures!

Thai Chicken Coconut Lime Curry

Ingredients

2 Tbsp mild olive oil

1.5-2 lbs. boneless and skinless chicken thighs

1/2-2/3 cup chopped onion

1 large carrot peeled and sliced thin on the diagonal: 1/4 inch width

1 large red pepper cut in long strips and then cut the strips in half

2 cloves of garlic pressed

1 Tbsp. fresh ginger grated (I freeze mine and it grates well that way)

1/3 of a jalapeno pepper or a red chili pepper of the heat you prefer, slice in narrow rings, remove seeds

1 can full fat coconut soup, shake it up before opening

1 Tbsp. fish sauce

Zest a lime and then juice it (need 2 Tbsp lime juice)

1 cup asparagus stems snapped into 1.5-inch lengths. If it won’t snap; pitch the rest

OR tender green beans cut in a similar length

2 cups of baby spinach washed and drained

More lime – wedges to squeeze over each dish

Instructions: Prep work of cutting up all veggies into small pieces as described and similar lengths other than chopped onions which will be smaller. Prep work of cutting boneless thighs into halves or thirds depending on size. I would leave breasts the half size, so they don’t overcook. A whole breast would be too big. Split in half is perfect I am thinking.

I used a 15-inch-wide paella pan, mine is nonstick and gives me the room for all the veggies in this dish. Just use a large sauté pan that will hold everything. Heat it a few minutes, add 1 tbsp of the mild oil. When it is hot add the chicken. Brown it for 3 minutes on each side and then use tongs to remove them to a plate. Add the other tbsp. oil and then the onion when the pan is fairly hot. Turn the heat to medium low and cook until starting to get soft 4 minutes (stir it as it cooks so no burnt onion bits). Add carrot slices and red pepper strips; cook another 2 minutes. Add the fish sauce, grated ginger, garlic, stir well, add the coconut milk, stir well as it gets hot, stop just before a boil ensues. Return the chicken thighs to the pan and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over, cook 5 minutes, nestle the asparagus spears into the sauce and cover it again. Add the lime juice and zest and the spinach leaves after 5 more minutes, keep covered. By now the asparagus should be soft enough to stick in a fork. If not, cook another minute. The spinach just needs to wilt; it will continue to do that even after you turn off the heat.

If you like cilantro throw on a third of a cup of chopped fresh cilantro at the end, we don’t so I didn’t. If you can get Thai basil, use that instead! I can only find it if I grow it myself. So summer is the season for Thai basil. Great hot basil taste which is perfect in Thai curries.

Serve this curry over hot Jasmine rice. I make mine in a sauce pan that I cut a brown paper bag circle to fit between the pot and the tight-fitting lid, it should overhang by an inch or so; the paper liner keeps liquid from escaping and drying out the rice before it is done. Or make it in your Instant Pot. I made a full cup of uncooked rice, and it was just about the perfect amount of rice. Enjoy!

Another less than stellar photograph. Not sure why but I think I was so eager to dig in I didn’t bother to tidy up the plate. I will take a new one next time I make it.

Chinese Chicken with Broccoli

Chinese stir fry is something most people just buy at the local take out place. When you have celiac you generally can’t do that. So many places use soy sauce that contains gluten. Plus their egg roll wrappers and long noodles are wheat based. But, I love Chinese food and so have to do my best to recreate my favorites. This is a classic; chicken and broccoli. I based it off a recipe on food network; from their kitchen.  I used thighs as they are juicier and I added extra veggies; that’s my jam! It was very tasty and healthier I am guessing than the typical takeout. Not a lot of work except the chopping and I cheated; got a bag of fresh broccoli florets on sale at the farm stand and they were perfect for this dish. You can leave out the extra vegetables like the pea pods but I know you will want them!

We enjoyed this over brown rice: I have a new trick to make better rice. I don’t have a fancy rice cooker but with a circle of brown bag paper I seal the top of the pot; goes right under the lid. The rice doesn’t lose as much moisture as it cooks and I think it comes out perfect.

One last thing; you could omit the fresh ginger and use ½ tsp. dried ginger; works in a pinch but fresh is best!

Chinese Chicken with Broccoli

 

1 lb boneless chicken thighs

2-3 scallions thinly sliced; angled is nice

2 cloves garlic minced

1 inch fresh ginger minced or grated (I grate)

1 Tbsp. gf soy sauce (LaChoy is gf)

1-2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. sea salt

1 Tbsp. dry sherry

2 tsp. dark sesame oil

3 Tbsp. canola oil or mild olive oil

1 carrot cut on bias

5-6 cups broccoli florets

1 orange/red pepper cut in large dice

½-1 cup pea pods; ends cut off

¼ tsp. red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp. hoisin sauce

 

Directions: Cut the chicken into large cubes, toss them with scallions, half the garlic and ginger, the soy sauce, 1 tsp corn starch, ½ tsp. salt, the sherry and sesame oil. Marinate at room temp while you chop veggies (for 15 minutes). Mix the remaining corn starch with 1/3 cup water.

Heat your wok over high heat, add 1 tbsp. Add chicken, cook for 3-4 minutes, push up sides. Add another Tbsp. oil and then the carrots, top with broccoli and cook a minute, add yellow/red pepper chunks, garlic, ginger and pea pods. Cook maybe 2 minutes. Stir in the red pepper flakes and hoisin sauce and mix the chicken in well.

Add scallions then cornstarch slurry and cook a minute. If you need more water, add a bit. Check seasoning and add more salt if needed.

Serve over rice. Enjoy!

 

Grilled Boneless Chicken Thighs on a Skewer: Succulent!

Grilling is one of the joys of summer cooking.  I made this recipe up for a recent camping trip but it works just as well on the grill at home!  Not too many ingredients and simple to put together.  It does have two marinades though but really simple ones; first one is one ingredient and some salt.

sweet baby rayscamping 014

I love Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce but use what ever you like.  You need to get out the skewers; I used the flat sided metal ones but you could use bamboo ones, soak them for 30 minutes first. If they are flat sided the meat doesn’t tend to spin around on the skewer; makes turning them easier.

I don’t put veggies on the skewers for a reason; they cook at a different speed than meat and generally don’t turn out so great; you could skewer some separately if you really want them fire cooked.  I would brush them with olive oil before grilling.

This chicken dish was a hit and is a keeper!

 camping 014camping 012

Angie’s Grilled Boneless Chicken Thighs

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. sea salt

1 lemon

1 garlic clove

2 tbsp. mild olive oil or canola if you prefer

½ tsp. dried oregano

Directions

Put the chicken in a Ziploc bag, add the buttermilk and salt.  Seal and shake up good.  Put in the fridge or cooler for 1-5 hours. This tenderizes the meat really nice. Drain chicken, rinse off buttermilk marinade.  Put in a clean Ziploc and add the zest of the lemon (I just peeled bits off with a potato peeler, the garlic clove (peel it and squash it a bit!), the oil, oregano and the juice of half the lemon.  Zip and marinade at least 30 minutes, up to 3 hours, in cooler. This marinade is for flavor.

Heat your grill or campfire. Not really hot; will char the chicken; medium is best.

Drain off the marinade and pat the chicken somewhat dry with a few paper towels; you don’t want a ton of marinade dripping into the fire. Thread the thighs onto flat metal skewers; I put 1 and a half on each skewer; you can leave the chicken thigh whole or cut in half or long strips; will need to cut one in half for sure! I put a quarter of a lemon on the end to help hold chicken in place and add flavor.   Grill over a medium flame.  I did about ten minutes on each side. I used a meat thermometer to check for doneness.  When it was cooked fairly close to 180 degrees; maybe 170 degrees, I used a cheap pastry brush I keep for camping to paint BBQ sauce on the side facing up; let it cook a few minutes, flip and do the other side.

I served it with a simple rice pilaf cooked on a camp stove, sliced summer tomatoes and corn on the cob cooked on the camp fire.  No fuss and very tasty: my kind of camping recipe. I made it up on the fly with what I had available and I know I will make this or some variant of it again for sure.  It was a big hit with both of us; the whole meal was excellent.  Super easy to make on your grill at home if you don’t camp.