FLOWER POT KITCHEN: FABULOUS CHARRED CHICKEN SATAY AND COCONUT BRAISED RICE

10 Jun 2012

FABULOUS CHARRED CHICKEN SATAY AND COCONUT BRAISED RICE

ROASTED CRUSHED PEANUT CHICKEN SATAY WITH COCONUT AND

CORIANDER FRAGRANT RICE

INGREDIENTS

2 large chicken breasts

2 cans of coconut milk

1 inch of lemongrass fine chopped

1 shallot fine chopped

1 tsp palm sugar

2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp tamarind paste

1 red chilli fine chopped

2 tsp Thai red curry paste

100g peanuts crushed

1 handful of rough chopped coriander

Take the chicken and slice length ways into fingers and place in a bowl, rub thoroughly with 1 tsp of the red Thai curry paste and rest in the fridge for half hour, if you leave for 3-4 hours even better.

In a hot dry non stick pan toast the crushed peanuts till golden, leave to one side.

To cook the coconut rice, it is the same as the usual absorption method, take 1cup of rice and 2 cups of coconut milk, plus another 50ml for luck. Place together in a pan and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes, leaving the lid on take the pan off the heat and leave to rest for 10 minutes, now your rice will be perfectly cooked and ready to serve.

While the rice is cooking, soften the shallot and lemongrass in a dash of ooil for a few minutes, add the palm sugar and caramelise. Pour in 2/3 of a tin of coconut milk, add the peanut butter, tamarind, Thai red curry paste and simmer for a few minutes till everything has melted together. Taste and adjust the flavour by adding a touch more of any of the ingredients.

To cook the chicken skewers, I like to cook these on a hot coal BBQ, but you can cook them on a griddle or plancher indoors, these will cook really quickly in a couple of minutes, and try to let some of the chicken to catch and burn slightly, this will add another great depth of flavour to the dish and I feel makes it so much tastier.

To serve, the choice is yours, leave the chicken on the skewers and pour over the satay sauce, finish off with some of the toasted crushed peanuts, chilli and coriander, and serve the rice on the side, OR tear the chicken off the skewers and place on top of the rice in your serving dish, pour over the sauce and sprinkle the top again with crushed peanuts, chilli and coriander.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.