Kaffir Lime Chicken Skewers

I absolutely adore Thai food! I’ve been to Thailand over 12 times and even filmed 4 episodes of my TV show over there – yet cooking Thai food at home is still a tad challenging. It’s really not evident to find the exact balance between, sweet, salty, sour and spicy – to make it taste proper Thai. But, I promise you that with this recipe you’ll hit the spot every time!

These chicken skewers are marinated in fish sauce and given a proper Thai taste by grilling them with kaffir lime leaves. You might not know kaffir lime leaves yet, but if you’re familiar with Thai food, you’ll recognize the scent and taste immediately! It’s one of the absolute cornerstones of Thai cuisine!

So, why not try these chicken skewers at your next BBQ? It will transport you straightaway to a Bangkok streetfood market – perfect for this year’s staycation…

You can watch me prepare the skewers here.

This is a recipe from my cookbook ‘Flavours of Home’.

This recipe was created as part of my “Staycation” show, inspiring people with recipes from my travels that they can recreate at home – to get us all to travel in our minds despite being stuck at home this summer…

Ingredients

800g boneless chicken thighs
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp turmeric
3 tbsp Thai fish sauce
1 ½ tbsp lime juice
½ tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp chili flakes
about 40 kaffir lime leaves*

Method

Makes 4 Skewers – Overnight marinating

about 40 kaffir lime leaves*

Cut the chicken thighs into bitesized chunks, approximately 4cm large, and put in a bowl.

Peel and finely chop the onion, peel and crush the garlic cloves and add to the chicken in the Tupperware, along with the turmeric, fish sauce, lime juice, white pepper and chili flakes. Toss to coat all the chicken, then cover and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight.

The next day, heat the barbecue.

Prepare the chicken skewers: take 4 metal skewers and threat a lime leaf on one, followed by a chicken piece and another lime leaf. Keep alternating so that each skewer has about 8 chicken pieces.

Put the skewers on the grill and barbecue for about 25 minutes on direct heat, turning them from time to time, until nicely browned.

Serve with a salad.

*you find frozen kaffir lime leaves in the freezer section of most Asia shops. You can defrost the whole packet of leaves and re-freeze any leftover leaves. Don’t buy dried kaffir lime leaves, as they don’t have much taste at all.