Simple Cooking – Coconut/Lime Chicken

We’re always looking for interesting chicken recipes, but we find most are either incredibly bland or mouth-numbingly dry. We prefer whole roast or rotisserie chickens, but often boneless skinless chicken breasts are the only convenient option on a weekday night. This is an easy dish with a nice Thai twist and you can finish it in less than thirty minutes. It’s also got a nice spicy, citrus flavor for a summer dinner out on the balcony.

Coconut-Lime Chicken
Adapted from a recipe by Mark Bittman

2 Chicken Breasts, cut into 4 pieces
2 Limes
1 cup canned Coconut milk
1 large pinch cayenne pepper
2 tbsp chopped shallots
1 tsp Nam Pla Fish Sauce (optional)
2 minced scallions
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Zest and juice the limes. Marinate the chicken with ½ the lime juice for 10 minutes. Combine coconut milk, shallots, cayenne and lime zest in a saucepan and warm over low heat. Either broil or grill the chicken until cooked through. Add the rest of the lime juice and the Nam Pla to the coconut milk and stir to combine.

If you don’t like the flavor of fish sauce, feel free to simply use salt. If you want to try out Nam Pla, it can be found at any Asian grocery store or the Asian food section of any well-stocked market.

When the chicken is cooked, transfer it to a serving platter. Top the chicken with the sauce, garnish with the scallions and cilantro and serve.