Chicken Skewers with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce.
As usual with the snack series I want to preface this by stating that this is a snack recipe. For some reason lately it seems as though I'm not happy unless I'm shoving a stick through my food. I'm not sure if this is my nature or if the pool that I'm getting these recipes from is a little shallow but lately I've been writing a lot about skewered food. It may be because it is the original form of cooking, it may be because it's easy and portable food, or it may be because I think that there are too many skewers in the world and I feel a need to use them up as quickly as possible one recipe at a time. At any rate I decided last week to recruit some help in my one man war on skewers by taking forty of them to a get together. I have to say if your friends have seen most of the tricks in your snack bag wait until you pull out the food on a stick trick.
Chicken skewers with spicy peanut dipping sauce combines two different approaches to reach the same end result. I'm going to break these down into their parts, the first being the chicken which is Indian and the second being the sauce which is Oriental. The chicken skewers are similar to the Grilled Tandoori Chicken and Red Onion Skewers with Couscous that we cooked on the grill a few months ago; the chicken is marinaded in a yogurt and curry powder mixture and then skewered before cooking. The difference here is that we will cook these in the oven instead of grilling them. As we've seen previously this is an Indian style of cooking, the spicy peanut dipping sauce has a distinctly Oriental flavor and will pop up again in a different form when I get around to posting the Szechwan Pork recipe.
This sauce is basically reduced fat creamy peanut butter that is thinned out with red wine vinegar and soy sauce and given a kick with chili oil and sesame oil.
Since chili oil has a tendency to be very potent I urge you to try the sauce before you serve it and if you want to make it spicier add 1 to 2 drops at a time until it reaches a hotness that you are happy with. Once you've made the peanut sauce you should refrigerate any unused portions for later use.
I feel that although I've written about skewers I haven't adequately explained how I like to use them. To better illustrate what I am talking about I have included a picture below. On the left are two metal skewers, I like to use these on the grill. They are metal which means they won't burn over an open flame, they are flat and have a twist so the food flop around while you are turning them, they have a ring at the handle end that aids when you are turning the food, and they are re-usable.
The skewer in the middle is made of bamboo wood, this is the kind of skewer I like to use in the oven or when I'm making skewers to serve many people. The main reason that I like these for the oven is that they are shorter and will fit. Another thing I like about them is they are cheap and disposable which is great when making multiple servings. The reasons that I like this type of wooden skewer is that they are flat like the metal skewers which keeps the food from flopping around and they are stronger than the thin dowel type of wooden skewers. Also they have an aesthetic that the dowel skewers don't have. The skewers on the right are the thin wooden dowel type that I don't like to use. These are very flimsy, prone to splintering, and are round which allows the food to flop around. I find the best use for these is lighting the fireplace. With all wooden skewers make sure you soak them in water for 30 minutes before you use them. If you use them on the grill or you find that the ends are burning, wrap the ends in aluminum foil.
Now that we've covered chicken skewers with spicy peanut dipping sauce and the attributes of different skewer types let's take a look at today's recipe.
Chicken Skewers with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce.
Prep time 20 Min. Cook time 16 Min. Serves 8
Ingredients
9 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1-1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup reduced fat peanut butter, smooth variety
1/4 cup hot water
1-1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon chili oil
Instructions
Place the chicken between pieces of plastic wrap and pound to an even thickness. Cut the breasts lengthwise, on the diagonal into 16 (1-inch wide) strips. Combine the chicken, yogurt, curry powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour or up to several hours.
Meanwhile soak 16 wooden skewers in water for at least 30 minutes.
to make the dipping sauce, whisk together the peanut butter, hot water, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and chili oil in a small bowl until blended and smooth. Taste the sauce and season with additional chili oil if desired. Transfer the sauce to a serving bowl; cover and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400f. Spray a rectangular baking pan with cooking spray.
Thread 1 chicken strip onto each skewer in a snake-like fashion. Arrange the skewers in the baking pan. Cook in the oven for 8 minutes, turn the skewers over and cook for 8 more minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Pile the skewers on a plate and serve the sauce alongside.
This recipe yields 2 skewers per serving.
This is a great snack for any get together and should go over well with your friends and family. If you make this snack, check back here and leave a comment to let me know how it turned out.
We've been going through the snack series for many months and have covered some interesting and diverse foods. My goal with the snack series has been to equip you with delicious low-fat snacks that you can serve when you are entertaining guests or take to get togethers; to that end I think I have succeeded. Now, as we head into the holidays I hope that you put these recipes to good use. This has been a long running series and I think it is time to let it run down and make room for more main course dinners. I plan to post one more snack recipe on the last Tuesday of December and I may post a snack recipe or two after that if I think they are exceptional but I feel it's time to move on to something new. I hope that you've found this series helpful.
Next week - Roasted Brisket or Something New (to me).
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