Honey Sesame Chicken with Thai Cabbage Salad

Cook Time Allow 1 hour

Servings 4

Ingredients

600g La Ionica skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into thick strips

8 kaffir lime leaves

2 tbsp sesame seeds

Large handful coriander leaves

Marinade

1/3 cup fish sauce

1 tbsp dried chilli flakes

3cm piece ginger, peeled and grated

2 lemongrass stems, white part only, finely chopped and crushed using a mortar and pestle

1 tsp ground turmeric

2 garlic cloves, grated

Thai Cabbage Salad

350g cabbage, finely shredded

5 spring onions, cut into 5cm lengths

1 carrot, cut into finger sized batons

1 cup bean sprouts

1 bunch coriander leaves

Honey Peanuts

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

1 tsp honey

Dressing

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp shaved palm sugar

1 birds eye chilli, thinly sliced and deseeded if you don’t want it hot

Juice of 1 lime

Method

Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl and add the chicken and a little salt and pepper. Mix well. Set aside to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 mins.

Preheat the BBQ or griddle pan to high.

Thread the pieces of marinated chicken onto the skewers, alternating with the lime leaves. You should end up with about 3 pieces of chicken per skewer

Once the pan or BBQ is smoking hot, add the chicken skewers and cook over high heat to caramelise as much as possible. Don’t stress if the chicken is burning- it adds great flavour, as long as they are not completely black. Turn them 5 or 6 times every minute or two for 4-5 minutes. Once the chicken is almost cooked, turn off the heat then drizzle over the honey and sprinkle over the sesame seeds. Flip the skewers a couple more times and let the remaining heat of the BBQ toast the honey and sesame seeds.

Serve immediately with the coriander, squeeze of lime juice and salad.

Thai Salad

For the honey peanuts, put the peanuts in a large dry frying pan over medium heat and cook until golden, about 5 minutes- be careful not to burn them. Once golden, add the honey and toss to coat. Remove from the pan and set aside

For the dressing, combine the fish sauce and palm sugar in a small bowl and stir until sugar dissolves. Add the chilli and lime juice and combine. Check for a good balance of flavours and adjust as necessary.

Combine all the salad ingredients, except the honey peanuts and coriander. Drizzle over the dressing and top with the honey peanuts and fresh coriander.