Thai Chicken with Lime & Coconut (Delia Smith)

It's hard to resist Thai food that doesn't have a complicated list of ingredients yet promises to taste good. When I first saw this recipe, I imagined a curry dish that is bursting with the taste of lime and coconut juice. This Delia Smith recipe has lived up to its promises. 

The chicken pieces are first marinaded in lime juice and zest before simmered in coconut juice. The succulent pieces of meat were bursting with the lovely flavours of lime and the herbs (coriander and spring onions). The sauce was mildly spicy and delicious - it reminded me of the Thai Green Curry in the restaurants. 

This is for Cook like a Star, Delia Smith blog hop event, hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Grab the HTML Code for the event here.

This is for Herbs on Saturday hosted by London Busy Body.

This is for Javelin Warrior's Made with Love Mondays.

Thai Chicken with Lime and Coconut (Serves 4)

A Delia Smith Recipe

Ingredients

• 400 g essential chicken breast chunks
• Grated zest and juice of 2 large limes
• 160 ml Coconut Cream (I used a combination of low fat coconut milk and low fat milk)
• 1 dessertspoon groundnut oil
• 1 Green Chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• ¾ tablespoon Thai fish sauce
• 20 g pack fresh coriander, stalks removed
• 4 spring onions, cut into 2.5 cm shreds, including the green parts

Method

• First of all, cut any larger pieces of chicken in half so that they are bite size, and place them in a bowl with the lime juice and zest. Stir well and leave them to marinate for at least an hour but longer if you have time.
• Drain the chicken in a sieve, reserving the marinade, then heat the oil in the sauté pan or a wok over a high heat, add the chicken pieces and stir-fry for 3 minutes, until they’re golden.
• Then add the chilli, stir-fry for 1 more minute, and add the lime marinade, coconut cream, fish sauce and half the coriander and spring onions. Cook for another 1–2 minutes, then serve spooned over the rice with the remaining coriander and spring onions sprinkled over.

Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

I’m a huge fan of Thai food and this Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad is not only easy to do but is perfect as a light meal after all the feasting during Christmas.

The secret is really in the sauce which is made of readily available kitchen sauces, which most of us would already have the pantry.

The dish is salty, sweet, spicy and crunchy (raw vegetables and peanuts) all it once. It is very aromatic from the basil leaves and very refreshing. The addition of mint leaves gives additional flavour and goes well with the basil. 

Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad (4 servings)

A Martha Stewart recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds (550 g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced crosswise or minced
• Spicy Asian Dressing* (recipe below)
• Coarse salt
• 3 1/2 ounces (100 g) Chinese rice noodles, broken in half if long (I use Tang Hoon/Glass Noodles)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower
• 2 carrots, sliced into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
• 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, torn
• Bean sprouts, chopped peanuts, fresh mint leaves, red-pepper flakes, and sliced scallion greens, for garnish (optional)

Method

1. Place chicken and half of dressing in a resealable plastic bag (reserve remaining dressing). Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes (or refrigerate up to overnight).
2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles until tender. Drain, and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Transfer to a platter.
3. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Working in batches, cook chicken (do not crowd skillet) until cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes; transfer to platter on top of noodles.
4. Top with carrots, cucumber, and basil. Drizzle with reserved dressing, and sprinkle with garnishes, if desired.

Spicy Asian Dressing
Ingredients

• 4 thinly sliced scallion whites
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste (I used 1/2 tsp reduced salt fish sauce)
• 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

Method

1. In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients.

Thai Red Curry Prawns

I am a big fan of spicy food (especially Thai) but have never cooked any that does not involve pre-mixed curry paste. Making my own curry paste has always been on my to-do list, but I am put off by the  long list of ingredients required. This Thai Red Curry Prawns recipe is a great recipe for me to start with since I do know all the ingredients. Besides, it looks so good that I had to have some!

The list of ingredients for the curry paste is fairly straight forward and easily available.

Even as I was blending the paste in my mixer, I could smell the wonderful spicy fragrance from the various ingredients. I am so proud of my first bowl of home-made curry paste! My mouth was already watering when I was cooking this. Right after it was ready, I did not even wait for meal time but immediately scooped some of the sauce over rice and ate it up! The prawns went well with this curry, but I think chicken would be great too.

What I would do differently next time is blend all the ingredients into a fine paste (the recipe recommends leaving it coarsely blended for texture). I had to remove some lemongrass bits as it was too hard to chew. Alternatively, one can sieve out the bits before serving the dish. This is really a fragrant and scrumptious recipe which is easy to make at home and tastes like a restaurant meal.

Thai Red Curry Prawns (Serves 4)
By Greta, MasterChef Contestant

Ingredients

Curry paste

• 1 stalk lemongrass, outer leaves and tough ends trimmed
• ½ long red chilli
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• Bunch coriander, roots and stems
• 3 tablespoons capsicum, chopped
• 1 teaspoon tomato puree
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1 cm fresh ginger, peeled
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Curry

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 king prawns, unshelled
• 100 g sugar snap peas, ends removed
• 200 g tiger prawns, peeled, deveined
• 150 g tin coconut milk

To serve

• Coriander leaves
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• ½ cup steamed rice

Method

• Cook rice in boiling water or in rice cooker.
• For curry paste, bash lemongrass stalks with the side of a knife and place in a food processor with chilli, garlic, lime leaves, coriander roots and stems, capsicum, tomato puree, fish sauce, soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil. Process, but do not make into a paste, allowing the paste to retain some texture.
• For curry, drizzle olive oil into a hot frying pan and add the unshelled king prawns. Fry for one minute and add a tablespoon of the curry paste. Fry for one more minute.
• Reduce to a medium heat, drizzle with olive oil and add the sugar snap peas and tiger prawns.
• Spoon in the remaining curry paste and stir fry for a minute before adding coconut milk. Simmer over low heat to melt down coconut milk.
• To serve, garnish with coriander leaves and lime wedges and steamed rice on the side.