Chicken Skewers

By RoketJSquerl

Spicy chicken skewers are popular street food throughout much of Southeast Asia. The chicken strips are marinated in a soy-based sweet and spicy dressing before being grilled and served with a peanut sauce. We wanted to make them with authentic flavor, but indoors, under the broiler. Here’s what we discovered:

Choose boneless, skinless chicken breasts and slice them quite thin. Freezing the meat for 30 minutes makes it firm enough to slice cleanly.
Marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes, but no more than one hour, in a potent marinade. If it sits too long the chicken will taste too salty.
Set the oven rack six inches below the heating element so that the chicken browns before it dries out.
Cover exposed skewers with aluminum foil to prevent them from burning.

Ingredients

• 6 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts ; (2 pounds), trimmed
• 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
• 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 1/4 Cup Packed Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Minced Fresh Cilantro
• 3 Tablespoons Ketchup
• 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 Teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
• 4 Scallions, sliced thin
• 1 1/2 Cups Recipe Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

1. Freeze the chicken for 30 minutes.

2. Slice the chicken diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick strips (see photo). Combine the soy sauce, vegetable oil, brown sugar, cilantro, ketchup, garlic, Tabasco, and scallions and pour over the chicken. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes but not longer than 1 hour.

3. Adjust an oven rack 6 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler. Line a broiler-pan bottom with foil and cover with the slotted broiler-pan top. Weave the chicken onto the bamboo skewers, lay the skewers on the broiler-pan top, and cover the skewer ends with foil. Broil until fully cooked, about 8 minutes, flipping the skewers over halfway through. Serve, passing the peanut sauce separately.

To Make Ahead

The marinade and chicken can be prepared (but not combined) and refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up 24 hours.