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City Life -12th February - Recipes by John Branagan - Lemon Grass Skewers
Thu 12th Feb 09 - 21:48
Lemongrass chicken skewer with red curry paste
By John Branagan
1 / 1 imagesROMANTIC: Lemongrass chicken skewer with red curry paste
WITH Valentine’s day this weekend and as many of you will be planning a romantic meal for two, I’ve chosen, for my first recipe, a versatile starter that can easily be adapted to be served as a dinner party main course.
Make a start by preparing the red curry paste; you will be using this to baste the chicken as it cooks.
To make blending the paste easier, first chop the creamed coconut into small bite-size chunks before adding to the other ingredients.
Buy the coriander in a bunch if possible, rather than the small plants often sold in supermarkets.
Much of the essence of the herb is concentrated in the stalks and you will find that bunches sold in ethnic food-stores and on market stalls usually have thicker stems and therefore deliver much more flavour.
If you have time, you can allow the flavours to develop further by making the paste the day before, then store in the refrigerator until needed.
At The Grill On The Alley, the quality of all of our produce is absolutely key, for example all of our chickens are British farm assured, freedom to roam birds and I’d encourage you to buy the best quality you can find when shopping for the ingredients for this dish.
Ideally, each breast should weigh in at around 170 grams.
To serve as a starter, simply follow the recipe as given and add a side order of dipping sauce prepared by mixing equal parts of red curry paste and coconut milk together.
To serve as a light main course, simply arrange each skewer on a bed of boiled rice scented with lime juice and sprinkled with a little finely chopped coriander.
Ingredients
(Serves four as a starter)
4 chicken breasts
4 lemongrass sticks
2 Limes
Olive oil
Coriander to garnish
Red curry paste ingredients
200g coconut cream
180ml sweet chilli sauce
15g grated ginger
15g garlic puree
120ml water
250g fresh coriander stalks
1tsp lemon juice
Method
Blitz together all the curry paste ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Chop each chicken breast into eight equal size pieces and thread each diced breast onto a stick of lemongrass.
Lightly oil each skewer, place onto moderately hot grill pan.
Cook the skewers for four minutes on each side, basting with the red curry paste whilst turning.
When cooked remove from grill pan, lightly brush with a little more of the remaining paste and place on warm plates.
Serve garnished with half a fresh lime and a large coriander leaf.
Published: Thu, 12 February, 2009
