Chicken Satay with Pineapple Salsa

From the internet:

Grandpa: In our times we didn't question why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road and that was good enough for us. 

Wish life could be simple like that some time. 

Thank God though atleast when it comes to food it is. 

Here's a simple Chicken Satay with a real simple Pineapple Salsa. 

Now don't go n be fooled when I say simple. When I say simple, I mean bursting with flavour, blow-your-mind-delicious. 

The smokey sweetness of the Chicken combined with the sweet and textured salsa ....well heck with the description...just go ahead, take a look, and then make it. 

Please. 

Make it. 

You'll thank me. 

Thank you

Serves: 2

Complexity: **

Time taken: 45 mins (including marination time)

You'll need

For the Chicken 

2 Chicken breasts (cleaned and cut vertically in the middle)

1 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp hoisin sauce (optional)

2 tbsp bbq sauce

1" pc of ginger

3-4 whole dried red chilies 

Salt to taste

Peanut oil

Pinch of love

For the Pineapple Salsa

3-4 Pineapple slices (I used canned)

1/2 red bell pepper

2 Jalapenos

1/4 onion

20-25 mint leaves

zest of 1 lime

juice of 1 lime

salt (optional) 

handful of salted roasted peanuts

Pinch of love

Skewers for satay

Method

Lets marinate the chicken first.

Halve the chicken breasts vertically and pound them to an even thickness. 

On that sprinkle some garlic powder. I use fried garlic powder. I always have it on hand. Its my life source. Now that we have that covered, we can move on. 

Next drizzle some soy sauce

The hoisin.... you could skip this if you wanted to but i feel it echoes all the flavours we are using beautifully and add an extra dimension to the chicken.

Next grate in the piece of ginger. This is just a little over 1" but I think you could get away with lesser. 

Add the bbq sauce. I just squeezed some directly from the bottle. Thats right, I didn't measure it.. I like living on the edge like this. 

Also let me just say that bbq sauce and ginger are my two new bffs. They make stuff taste unbelievably goooooooood. Sprinkle salt. 

Rub all the marinade over the chicken. 

The reason why we are rubbing now before adding the last ingredient is because the last ingredient is red chilies. Break the whole dried chilies in halves and let the seeds fall out on the chicken. Leave the chilies on the marinating chicken and place in the fridge till the time you're ready to cook. I usually let mine sit for about 2-3 hours but even 15-20 minutes would do. 

Take the chicken out of the fridge and thread it on the bamboo skewers. You could also use metal ones. I also used a stove top grill to cook mine. 

So get your grill heating. Drizzle some peanut oil over the chicken and a little over the grill. Place the skewered chicken so you get beautiful grill marks over them. 

Let it cook for 3 minutes on one side and 2 minutes on the other till the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear. Please take care not to over cook the chicken or else the meat will turn hard n chewy and it will be a disaster. 

Yummmy, smokey, slightly sweet Chicken Satay is ready. Flavoured with those punch-packing red chilies and the earthy heat of the ginger; are you salivating yet?! I am! 

Perfectly charred marks, soft moist chicken on a stick. My life's complete! *Happy Dance*. But there's more! My life just keeps on giving! *quick thank-you prayer* 

For the Pineapple Salsa

I didn't have salted roasted peanuts on hand, so I roasted them at home with salt. 

Then bring out your mortar n pestle or just a rolling pin or even a bottom of a good jar, and coarsely grind the peanuts. 

Take your chopper or food processor or even a blender and put in the vegetables and the pineapple along with the mint leaves, the lime zest, the lime juice and peanuts.

Give it a couple of whizzes. If you want chunky pico de gallo here's where you stop. But I wanted it all to be pineapple-y and salsa like. 

So I went ahead and whizzed it for about 30 more seconds. Et voila! My Pineapple Salsa was done! Garnish with a few pineapple pieces and a sprig of fresh mint leaves. 

How delicious are those flavours all combined together! Pineapple salsa is my new favourite after the Mango Pico de Gallo. 

Dust in your pinch of love and Serve chilled with the hot Chicken Satay. Indulge!