Healthy Eats: Chicken Satay, Thai Salad & Spiced Coconut Rice

I had my mum and dad over for dinner last Friday night and they requested I make my famous Chicken Satay for them! It’s really filling, so easy to make and if you like Satay and Thai food in general then this will rock your world!!! You could replace the peanut butter with almond butter if you so wish and the salad leaves could be anything from Rocket to Spinach. You could also add broccoli, carrots or mange tout to the rice. I had run out of those veggies on Friday because I’d eaten a load of them for lunch. We cooked our skewers on a charcoal barbecue but you could just do them under the grill if you don’t have one. I served mine with a Thai salad and some Thai Yellow Curry Coconut Rice.

Ingredients for the satay marinade:
½ a small bunch of fresh coriander
1 fresh red chilli (you can tailor this to your preference)
2 cloves of garlic
3 heaped tablespoons good-quality crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce
a 2cm piece of fresh ginger
The juice of 1 lime
4 large skinless chicken breasts
runny honey, for drizzling

Directions:
Put the coriander, garlic, peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger and lime juice in a food processor and blend little. Add a small amount of water and keep going until you get a thick sauce consistency. Cut the chicken breasts in large chunks. Place the chicken cubes in a large bowl and add the satay marinade, ensuring all of the pieces are coated generously. Marinate for at least an hour. This gets a bit messy – pop the chicken cubes onto skewers and cook on the barbecue/grill, turning them regularly. After about 15-20 minutes, check to see if they’re cooked by slicing into the chicken in the middle of a skewer.

To make this thai salad, you can refer back to the Thai Chicken Wrap recipe in this post. I just added some unsalted cashews to the above salad.

First up I will give you the ingredients for the spice blend that makes this rice ohhhh-so-tasty!

Ingredients for the Thai Yellow Curry Spice Blend:

1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon turmeric
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 teaspoons white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cardamom

Mix together all spices. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place until ready to use. This recipe makes more than is needed but I have found it’s great to have it made up in the cupboard to use on chicken breasts or even as the basis to any curry!

Ingredients for the Thai Yellow Curry Coconut Rice:

2 cups wholegrain jasmine rice
1 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons yellow curry powder (as described above)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger
1 tablespoon fresh minced lemongrass stalk
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fish sauce, simply omit for a vegetarian/vegan dish
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup chives for garnish

Directions:
Rinse the rice thoroughly in a strainer until the water is clear and not cloudy coming through the strainer. In a medium saucepan, combine the coconut milk and 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Add in the rice, yellow curry powder, and the salt. Return the rice to a slow simmer, and then cover the saucepan and turn the heat to low.Cook the rice over low heat without removing the lid for 20 minutes or until tender.

Heat the coconut oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add in the onions, ginger, lemongrass, and the garlic and cook for five minutes, stirring frequently. In a small dish, combine the fish sauce, lime juice, and a little honey. Stir the sauce into the mixture in the pan and continue to cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

When the rice is finished cooking, stir in the pan mixture. Top with fresh herbs just before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

I made my own clean eating sweet chilli sauce as a side dip (I found the recipe for that here).This is one of my favourite recipes EVER! I hope you enjoy it!