Vargr
Vargr
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Note - This sauce doesn't have a whole lot of "Heat" at this point, despite the additions of a good amount of red curry paste and garlic chili sauce. However, we wanted to start "light" as the heat tends to build over time. If necessary, we'll "kick it up" during the final basting by adding more chili, some additional cayenne pepper, and possibly some Srirachia hot sauce.
This sauce has a nice, complex flavor of curry, sweet (honey), sour (lime), tart (rice vinegar) and savory. The coconut milk makes it quite rich, and seems to temper the heat of the other ingredients. And, of course, there's the distinct note of peanuts from the peanut butter, but it doesn't overpower the other flavors.
Ingredients:
3T Thai red curry paste
3T Thai Kitchen premium fish sauce
3T Rice wine vinegar
3T Garlic Chili sauce
1T Toasted sesami oil
2T Clover Honey
1/8 C creamy peanut butter
1 can coconut milk
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/2 T Ground Ginger
1T Lime Juice
Directions:
Stir together curry paste, rice vinegar, fish sauce, chili garlic sauce, and peanut butter in a skillet over medium heat until the peanut butter melts and the ingredients combine.
Add coconut milk, honey, ginger and Cayenne pepper and stir to combine. Allow sauce to come to a light simmer and remove from heat. Stir in lime juice.
Place chicken in a large zip-top bag. Pour marinade over chicken and refrigerate for several hours or over night.
Remove chicken and reserve sauce. Cook chicken in smoker or grill, basting frequently with reserved sauce.
For more heat, baste with your favorite brand of Thai Peanut Sauce just before removing from grill/smoker. Note - the peanut sauce can be "kicked up" with Sriracha hot sauce for even more heat.
This recipe may be modified as we continue to work with it during this weekend.
(Edit for new info on the results)
This turned out to be a wonderfully tasteful preparation! The "heat" was surprisingly mild, given the amount of chili sauce and curry paste involved. However, the range of flavors was fantastic.
We basted with the reserved marinade, as noted. Then, on the final baste before removing the chicken from the smoker, we substituted a spicy Thai peanut bottled sauce instead. This added yet another layer of flavor, but really didn't add as much "heat" as expected.
It appears the combination of the creamy yogurt and the fats/lactose in it, and the sweet honey, did a lot to diminish the heat of the sauce.
If you want more heat with the meal, wuffy would recommend adding Cayenne pepper, Srirachai hot chili sauce, and a few hot Thai chilies to the sauce while heating it in the skillet. A judicious amount of hot chili oil would also add some "late heat" as the oil activates more after swallowing.
Still, this was a Wonderful dish, and wuff will absolutely be making it again, either smoked or in the oven.
Last edited on Tue Aug 4th, 2009 06:23 pm by Vargr
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