Peanut Chicken

It’s been just over a year since I returned to the world of omnivores. Eating vegetarian is extremely difficult in Korea, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts. If you want to have a social life and sit in the good books of your co-workers here, you’ve got to eat products that contain meat. For me, this usually means having a couple bites of the meat dish that’s offered, and eating lots more of the vegetables, noodles, rice, and other goodies around it.

Despite introducing meat back into my diet, I’ve barely cooked any myself since I’ve been here. I’ve never been much of a meat eater to be honest. Even as a kid I was pretty picky with the meat I ate. But damn this peanut chicken recipe had me wolfing down ogre sized portions when my parents introduced it to our dinners. I don’t even know where the recipe came from. But in any case I don’t have the original, and the recipe I present is my own uneducated guess of what goes in. But it’s just as good as I remember it!

I remember eating this a lot when we had a cottage. It was super easy to whip up after a long day on the water, refueled our famished bellies, and everyone loved it! (Except my brother’s best friend who is deathly allergic to peanuts, and always seemed to show up the nights we made it–he was never harmed).

This is one of the only meat dishes I’ve made since being here, and it’s one I’m happy to make again. When it comes to poultry in Korea, it’s pretty easy to buy local which makes me feel loads better about eating it. Most traditional markets here offer whole chickens up for about $5.

The Recipe

Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Active Prep Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 3-4 medium chicken breasts
• 2 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1 cup peanut butter 
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• ⅓ cup lime (or lemon) juice
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• salt to taste
• pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Cut chicken into thin strips.
2. Mix all ingredients except chicken together in a bowl. When the mixture is uniform, add chicken and marinate for at least one hour, or overnight.
3. Dump the chicken and any extra marinade in a pan over medium heat. After about 2 minutes, turn the pieces over to cook on the other side. Repeat until the strips are fully cooked. My strips were quite thin so it only took me about five minutes.
4. Serve with your favourite Thai inspired noodle dish or a fresh summer salad.

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