Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

Yesterday Steve Jobs died. There's a quote from President Obama floating around Twitter right now that remarks about how many people discovered the news of Steve Jobs' death on an Apple product. It's wild to think that just ten years ago nearly everyone who owned a computer owned a PC. There wasn't an iPhone, iPod, iPad, or Macbook in the bags of millions of people as they went about their days. It's wild to think that someone who dropped out of college went on to help pioneer one of the most successful lines of technology products the world has known.

Success stories like Steve Jobs, or even more dramatic rags-to-riches stories like those of Oprah and J.K. Rowling will always be inspirational. There's nothing more motivating than knowing someone was able to take nothing and make it into everything. 

What motivates you towards success?

Now on a less serious note, this recipe takes a fairly bland protein, chicken, and makes it everything you'd want a dish to be. Healthy yet flavorful and totally doable.

Recipe Rundown
Taste: FULL of flavor. The peanut sauce is scrumptious.
Texture: The moist bites of chicken covered in the rich peanut sauce is surprisingly crave-worthy.
Ease: Don't be daunted by the seemingly long list of ingredients for the chicken and sauce. They're all fairly easy (the fish sauce can be found in the Asian section of the store, use soy sauce if you can't find it) and the peanut sauce uses nearly the same ingredients as the chicken.
Appearance: You can garnish your plate with cilantro, basil, chopped peanuts but I thought it looked beautiful without any of that. Those grill marks are just gorgeous.
Pros: Flavorful, healthy, and the leftover sauce can be used as a veggie dip or to coat pasta.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Absolutely.

Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
Serves 4
From The Food You Crave

• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup unsweetened light coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Asian fish sauce (or 2 more teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
• 1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch chunks
• Eight 8-inch bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 20 minutes
• 1/2 cup Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce (recipe below)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the broth, coconut milk, soy sauce, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime zest, and ginger. Add the chicken pieces, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and marinade in the fridge for 1 hour. 

Remove chicken from marinade and discard the marinade.

Coat a grill pan, preferably cast-iron, with nonstick spray and set it over medium-high heat. While the pan is heating, thread the chicken onto skewers. Place skewers in the hot pan and sear until cooked through and the chicken has grill marks, about 3 minutes per side.

Serve chicken skewers with dipping sauce.

Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

• 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup unsweetened light coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon red curry paste (or 1 teaspoon curry powder)
• 1 medium shallot, roughly chopped.

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more chicken broth or coconut milk if thinner consistency is desired. Sauce will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.