Lemongrass Coconut Milk Chicken

The Lowdown:

Once again, this was one of those days where laziness takes over. A morning full of ambitions, and an afternoon full of procrastination. That is, until the dreaded phone call from my better half. Date night. Shit. Forgot. Trouble in paradise? Nope, I am too witty and quick minded to be caught flat-footed on date night. There are four easy steps to avoiding disaster when this happens:

1. Act confident on the phone. Women can sense urgency in a man's voice. It's a primal instinct that they keep keen. Tell them that you have a cute surprise planned and can't wait to see them. Remember, no hints.
2. Assess the pantry and get shit started ASAP. People are generally cranky when they get home from work. This is especially true when you've had all day to accomplish "the list" and managed to complete none of the tasks.
3. Form all of the pillows on your bed into the shape of your body and make a pre-recorded message, that cues when the door knob rotates, saying how sick you are and not to come into the room. Tie all of your sheets into a rope and rappel down the side of your building to safety.
4. Apply for a fraudulent passport and forget your past life. You are now free of a woman's fury.

Or, if you are lucky enough to have enough ingredients (and creativity) to come up with something, it is advised that you do so. Luckily for me, this was the case. Although I am sitting here laughing to myself, be assured, this was a close call. Oh! I almost forgot. An optional step 5 is to go rent a movie that is cute and romantic. By this, I mean a movie that has no plot line, requires zero brain power or intelligence, is horribly acted, has no words larger than three syllables, and makes you vomit from the thought that you just wasted two and a half hours of your life. Yes, the dreaded "chick flick."

Anyway, being summer(ish) I have stopped grocery shopping for the most part. Needless to say, my options were very limited. So this makeshift dish was the fruit of my (very hasty) labour. All I have to say is, thank God I had golden beets and chicken breasts.

The Playlist:

1 can Coconut milk

3 Chicken breasts

1 Mango, peeled and cubed

1 tsp Coriander seed, coursely ground

1 tsp Cumin seed, coursely ground

1 tbsp chili powder

1 stalk Lemongrass

1 tsp Lemon zest

3 Kaffir lime leaves

3 Shallot, minced

3 cloves Garlic, minced

1/2 cup Rice flour

Salt & Pepper, to taste

Oil

The Skinny:

1. Heat coconut milk, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves in a medium sized sauce pan. Bring to a gentle boil and allow to cook for 15-30 minutes. Remove lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves.
2. To pot: add salt, pepper, mango, shallot, garlic, coriander, cumin, and chili powder. Cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. If possible put the chicken breasts into the sauce and refrigerate over night. If not, marinate for as long as possible.
4. Remove chicken from sauce and generously coat with rice flour, heat oil in a large frying pan and cook until chicken is browned on both sides ( as well as cooked through, obviously).
5. While chicken is cooking, put coconut sauce into a sauce pan and bring to a boil, then allow to simmer until liquid is thoroughly heated. Puree if desired. Place sauce onto the chicken.
6. Serve hot.

Stay rad -h

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