Thai Coconut Cilantro Chicken

Hi! Now that we've been able to explore a little and had time to collect some ingredients, I've been able to make some new recipes! Since Levi has recently discovered he is lactose intolerant (just a couple more ingredients I can't use...) I've been excited to learn about coconut milk. A pleasant surprise has been that they have some in nearly every grocery store here. They must like Asian food because I have already discovered gluten free soy sauce which I was a little worried about.

I have had this chicken recipe in one of my trusty GF cookbooks - Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking by Kelli & Peter Bronski. I'll have much more to say about this book in later posts but for now we'll stick to the chicken.

I'll admit this picture isn't very exciting. But the sauce was delicious! For any you who are dairy free, this is a great one to try. Here is the recipe:

Thai Coconut-Cilantro Chicken
14 oz. can of coconut milk
1/4 cup tamari wheat-free soy sauce (I have only found the Kikoman brand overseas)
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
4 garlic cloves
2 jalapeno chile peppers, seeded (unfortunately I had to use jarred because I couldn't find fresh ones)
2 tbsps chopped fresh ginger (I used powdered at the time, 1/4 tsp, but have since discovered fresh)
Grated zest and juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp brown sugar (European kinds are very granulated and don't pack at all but the results are similar)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1. Combine coconut milk, soy sauce, cilantro, garlic, jalapenos, ginger, lime zest and juice, and brown sugar in a food processor and blend until smooth. I have an immersion blender so I just put it all in a big bowl and blended it up.

2. Transfer the sauce to a shallow dish, add the chicken, and turn to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

3. Here the recipe calls to grill the chicken, which would be delicious I'm sure. Of course we don't have a grill so I boiled the chicken  for about 15-20 minutes or until the inside is no longer pink. If you do have a grill, heat it to medium-high and cook for about 8-10 minutes on each side. Baste the chicken with the sauce as it cooks.

4. If grilling, take the remaining sauce and bring it to a boil over high heat. Cook for 4 minutes. If you do what I did, you end up boiling the sauce with the chicken so it's already good to go. Serve the sauce with the chicken.

This was great served over brown rice and adding a few sauteed peppers and onions would be really good. Hope you like it!

~Maura


*As an aside, I'm going to try to post what ingredients I find and where I find them so if anyone else with Celiacs finds themselves in Slupsk, Poland they'll have some guidelines. This will only be for specifically gluten free items.*