Catch the Spoon

There’s a sushi restaurant a few towns over where we go to dinner with friends once a year or so. I’m not a big sushi fan, but I am consistently wowed by their coconut chicken and broccoli. A few weeks ago when cleaning out the pantry, I noticed what I thought was a can of coconut milk left over from my birthday party in April, and decided to try my hand at a similar dish. When I got around to it earlier this week, I discovered that what I thought was coconut milk was actually sweetened cream of coconut — but I decided to use our classic “throw stuff together and see what happens” method of meal preparation. Good gracious, I’m glad I did.

Coconut Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3-4 pounds bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 15-ounce can cream of coconut, mixed well
  
• 6-8 whole cloves
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• Fried chow mein noodles (optional)
• Cooked medium-grain rice (optional)

Place the chicken in a large baking dish and roast at 350° F until chicken is fully cooked. Set aside to cool.

When chicken is cool, remove meat from bones and roughly chop. In a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil and add the chicken. Cook until chicken is lightly brown and slightly crispy on the edges. Stir in coconut, cloves, soy, ginger, and Worcestershire sauce.Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch. Add to pan and stir until mixture is evenly distributed. Add lime juice. Increase heat slightly and simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until sauce has reduced considerably and become glossy. Stir in walnuts. Serve immediately, over rice and topped with chow mein noodles* if desired.

Serves 4-6

*As you can see from the image at top, I like mine with a lot of chow mein noodles…