Barbecued Coconut Chicken with Fried Rice

Things don't always go according to plan when it comes to meal times in this house, and this meal was no exception.

I thought I was being incredibly smart the night I made the Spiced Pork, and had two pots on the stove bubbling away with meals in them - one for that night and one for the next!!

Trouble was the next night came around - and we didn't end up having my "spare" meal.  That was not a huge problem though, as the chicken ended up spending another 24 hours languishing in it's coconut bath - (kind of like Cleopatra!!!) which made it all the more succulent and tasty when we did have it the following night!!

This is a dish worth having up your sleeve with the impending silly season upon us.  The chicken is basically cooked, on the stove top, but you leave it "marinading" in a coconut mixture in the fridge - and then just "char" the surface on the BBQ to serve it.  It would be an excellant dish to serve for a crowd, as it really requires so little attention at the end.

Barbecued Coconut Chicken
Adapted from a recipe in Super Food Ideas December Issue

Serves 5 - 6

12 chicken thigh chops (with the bone in) - approx 2kg
2 x 33g sachets ayam goreng spice mix *
1 lemongrass stalk, cut into 3 pieces
2 dried bay leaves
3 cups chicken stock **
400ml lite coconut cream

Place the spice mix, lemongrass, bay leaves, and chicken stock in a large, heavy based saucepan, stir well to combine.  Add the chicken and heat over medium high heat.  Bring to the boil.  Boil, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until the chicken changes colour.

Turn the chicken over.  Add the coconut cream.  Season with pepper.  Cook, uncovered, for a further 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

At this point I allowed the mixture to cool, I then put the lid on the saucepan and put it in the fridge for 48 hours.  You can however, simply remove the chicken from the liquid at this point, and proceed straight to the BBQ.  Note that if you do leave it in the coconut mixture in the fridge the liquid will "gel" up - so you will need to scrape as much of the gelled liquid from the chicken as you can before you grill it.

Preheat a BBQ plate or chargrill on medium high heat.  Cook the chicken, turning occasionally, until the chicken is golden and charred. (The recipe said another 20 minutes on the BBQ - but hey it has been cooked already for 40 minutes - it really just needs browning up!!!!)

I served this with a really simple fried rice.

Fried Rice

2 cups cooked rice (I had some left over from the sesame rice I made for the Spiced Pork!)
1 cup frozen peas
3 eggs, beaten
300g diced ham
12 green prawns, halved horizontally ***
2 x green shallots finely sliced
sesame oil
soy sauce

Heat a wok over medium high heat.  Add a small amount of sesame oil, add the eggs, making a thin omelette, cook quickly, turning over until cooked through.  Remove from pan.  Cut into small cubes.

Add a small amount of sesame oil to the pan, and add the shallots and cook stirring for 1 minute.  Add the ham, cook for another minute, then add the peas.  Cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes, or until the peas have softened.  Add the prawns, cook quickly, stirring for another minute, or until they have changed colour.

Add the rice, mix well to combine all the ingredients.  Add approximately 1 tbs soy sauce, or to taste.

Serve with the Coconut Chicken.

 

* This is the spice mix I used - you should be able to find it at any good asian supermarket.

** I had some of the concentrated vegetable stock that was made in the Thermomix - I used 3 tbs of concentrated stock with 3 cups of water.

***  Slicing the prawns horizontally ensures they cook quickly, and also gives you a lovely little "Prawn curl".

So Dear Readers what little "secret recipes do you have up your sleeves" that you intend to whip out and amaze your guests with over the Christmas holiday season?  I guess we are lucky down here in Australia - the BBQ will become our best friend during the vacation period (that is if it stops raining long enough to use it!!!)

Plum Glazed Chicken Wings

The M.O.T.H. wanted chicken wings last night, and he wanted them with a plum glaze.  So I scoured the internet to find a suitable recipe.  I was not overly impressed with this recipe - but there were mitigating circumstances.  As usual I had bitten off more than I could chew in the alloted timeframe, and possibly left myself a bit short on the cooking time for the wings.  You see, me being me, thought sure I can make a marinade, bake a cake and prepare fried rice all in around 2 hours!  So I set out to do it all, and of course expected it all to be perfect!  Big mistake.

Well there were no dramas with the cake - that was perfect, but you see I didn't want to put the wings in the oven at the same time as the cake - I know, you are supposed to be able to bake sweet and savoury at the same time with no garlic smells permeating your cake - but I just didn't want to risk it.  I of course had stayed home from rugby practice on the premise that I would have dinner ready when they walked in the door - but it was going to be pushing it now (bloody stupid idea to embark on a cake so late in the day!!).  So perhaps if the wings had been in the oven a little bit longer, or perhaps even if I had not had so damn many in the baking tray, they may have caramelised up more (or as the M.O.T.H. said - I like them more burnt than this!!)

Anyway here is the recipe...

Plum Glazed Chicken Wings

1kg chicken wing drumettes (this is the little "drumstick" part of the wing)
2 tbs white wine vinegar
1 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs soy sauce
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tbs golden syrup
2 tbs tomato puree *
2 tbs plum jam
1 tsp finely chopped ginger

* I actually used tomato puree last night, but I think now in hind sight that tomato sauce would probably work better and give it a little more sweetness.

I made 4kgs worth of wings (the boys had just been to rugby mind you!!) so I made 4 times the quantity of sauce, and hence crowded the baking pan too much!!

Place all the marinade ingredients into a large ziploc bag, mix well.  Add the wings and marinate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

After the wings have been marinted, put into one of those lovely disposable foil trays, and bake for at least 1 hour, turning frequently, or until they are lovely and "burnt" (caramelised is the word darling!!!).

Serve with Fried Rice.

Fried Rice

This makes a large wokful of rice - you can halve the amounts!!

To make the  fried rice you will need to cook 2 cups of rice earlier in the day, and leave to sit.  This lets it dry out and make a better fried rice.

2 eggs, lightly beaten
200g Chinese BBQ Pork (Tim's BBQ at Hornsby makes great BBQ Pork!!)
12 green prawns, halved horizontally
2 green shallots, chopped
1 cup of frozen peas
soy sauce
sesame oil

Cook the eggs, either place in a flat dish and cook in the microwave, or make an omelette in the base of the wok.  Cook until just set - put aside.  Chop into small squares.

Heat approximately 1 tbs of sesame oil in a hot wok.  Fry the shallots for about 1 minute, add the frozen peas, cook for approximately 3 minutes, or until they are no longer frozen.  Add the BBQ pork, stirring until heated through, this will take a couple of minutes.  Add the green prawns, cook stirring until they have just changed colour.  Now start adding the rice - break up any large clumps that you have!! Make sure you keep turning all the time so nothing over cooks.  Add more sesame oil to taste - this is what gives it that lovely flavour.  Add around 1-2 tbs soy sauce - again, just until it starts to colour, and to taste.

There you have it a take away meal that you cooked at home!!


In my humble opinion the fried rice was the star at last night's dinner (but then I am not that partial to chicken wings!) - well not unless they are those lovely tasty morsels that you get when you buy a BBQ chicken that is ccoked just right!!