Healthy: Thai Grilled Chicken with Cilantro Dipping Sauce

Often when you think about cooking Thai food the first thing that comes to mind is laborious work chopping vegetables and herbs and building the ingredients that come together in a curry or other complicated dish. However, that's not an accurate portrayal of Thai food. Thai food also includes a large amount of street food that includes grilled meats. This side of Thai cuisine is not built on putting in time slicing vegetables into razor thin strips or chopping up meat into bite sized pieces. Instead, Thai grilling is very similar to any other type of grilling. This can make Thai flavors approachable for those who feel overwhelmed by Thai ingredients or cooking techniques.

This recipe turns regular old chicken breasts into a bouquet of Thai flavors without a long cook or delayed prep time. In fact, this recipe even requires minimal marinade time although you can certainly extend this time period to get more of the flavor into the meat. This grilled chicken recipe can work on a grill or under a broiler so it's easily prepared inside or outside. The recipe below provides broiling instructions but you can grill using the exact same steps just prepare your grill as you normally would to grill chicken breasts.

Thai Grilled Chicken with Cilantro Dipping Sauce

Servings: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Equipment:

• Broiler or grill
• Shallow dish
• Knife and cutting board
• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen utensils
• Food processor (or blender) 
• Stove
• Small saucepan

 Ingredients:

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• 2 jalapenos
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1 tbsp cilantro
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 tbsp water

Directions:

1. Heat grill or broiler. 
2. In food processor puree jalapenos (remove stem), 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup cilantro, fish sauce, olive oil, sesame oil and 1/4 tsp salt. 
3. Put chicken in shallow dish and coat with puree.
4. Broil chicken for five minutes. Turn and cook on other side for five minutes or until done.
5. While broiling, chop remaining 1 tbsp of cilantro. 
6. Combine vinegar, sugar, remaining salt in small saucepan and bring to simmer. Simmer for two minutes.
7. Pour liquid in mixing bowl and allow to cool. Add pepper flakes, water and cilantro. Whisk together.
8. Serve chicken breast with small bowl of sauce.