Thai Chicken with Tomato-Chili Jam

This is one of my favourite recipes. It's foolproof, easy to make and and always a hit! You can make this dish less spicy just by reducing the amount of chilies in the recipe. It's a great main course and works just as well for winter and summer since it can be served either hot or cold.

The recipe is from my trustee Diva Cooking book, which was mentioned in my earlier post featuring the Pyramid Salad. It's a two part recipe: marinading and cooking the chicken, and making the tomato-chili jam. It serves 8 people.

Marinade:

• 8 chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts (Chicken thighs work great too. They are cheaper and, in my opinion, tastier than chicken breast. However, they don't look as pretty on a plate.)
• 4 tablespoons of sesame oil
• 4 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce (easy to find in the Asian section of any supermarket)
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 red chilies, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 large handful of cilantro, finely chopped

Slice the chicken into thick strips. Mix the marinade ingredients together, pour over the chicken, cover and chill for 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Cook the chicken either by barbecuing or pan frying, brushing with the marinade as it cooks.

Tomato-chili jam:

• 500gr of ripe tomatoes, chopped (canned tomatoes also works if you're lazy)
• 4 red chilies, deseeded and chopped
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1x2inch peice of fresh ginger root, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce
• 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of red-wine vinegar
• 3 Thai leaves (Okay, these are hard to find. They are available in Asian market. If you don't have any you can substitute with a bit of lime zest and juice and a bay leaf.)
• 60 grams of raisins or red currants

Place half the tomatoes, the chili, garlic, ginger and fish sauce in a food processor and blend to purée. Transfer to a saucepan and add the sugar, vinegar, lime leaves and raisins. Bring to a boil slowly, stirring. Add the rest of the tomatoes and simmer gently for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Serve the chicken, hot or cold, with the jam on the side, hot or cold. This dish is really good with a side of coconut flavoured rice. Just cook your rice as usual, but substitute half of the water for coconut milk. Guaranteed success!