Chicken Satay Rice Bowl

Recipe for a Chicken Satay Rice Bowl.

My family could easily eat Asian cuisine 5 out of 7 days every week.  

My very picky teen son invariably heaves a sigh of relief when the question, ‘What’s for dinner?’ is answered with ‘Thai ____’ or ‘Chinese_____’.  

While I have my standby recipes (Pad Thai, Kung Pao Chicken, Fried Rice), sometimes I feel the need to mix it up a bit.

Such is the case when this idea came to me a couple of days ago.  We needed a “go-to” satay chicken and rice recipe to add to our Asian food lineup. Chicken Satay with rice is nothing new to us, but I opted to eschew the skewers and instead top a bowl of chewy and nutty black rice with slices of tender, marinated chicken breasts, crisp vegetables, and an Asian-style spicy cucumber salad.  I then drizzled a peanut sauce turned vinaigrette over the whole conglomeration of yumminess, aka Chicken Satay Rice Bowl.  

I came across this quote by David Thompson, author of Thai Food which is a more poetic interpretation of my take on Thai food.  To me, the attraction of Thai food lies in its complex combination of sweet, salty, sour, bitter and hot in the dish.  

“Thai food ain’t about simplicity. It’s about the juggling of disparate elements to create a harmonious finish. Like a complex musical chord it’s got to have a smooth surface but it doesn’t matter what’s happening underneath. Simplicity isn’t the dictum here, at all. Some westerners think it’s a jumble of flavors, but to a Thai that’s important, it’s the complexity they delight in.”

This spicy asian cucumber salad accompanies the chicken satay and rice bowl perfectly. I made the cucumber salad well before I made the vinaigrette, which turned out to be a fortunate happenstance because I would have made the vinaigrette spicier had the cucumber salad not been so spicy.  So, use your judgment with your spices.  If your cucumber salad is just a cool, refreshing addition, you might want to add a teaspoon (or more depending on the heat tolerance of the intended taste buds) of sriracha or other hot chili sauce/paste.  In my case, the addition of 2 jalapenos (which being red also had more capsaicin than a green) really brought the hots to this spicy cumber salad up so that I really wanted a tamer dressing to balance the heat out.

Plan this meal ahead so that you can give the chicken breasts ample time to marinate.  I find the breasts quite tender and juicy from this marinade.  While any rice would be completely fine, I like using black rice for the added dimension of both color and taste.  If you haven’t had black rice before, give it a whirl.  It has a distinct nutty flavor we enjoy.

Chicken Satay Rice Bowl

Nourish and Nestle

A rice bowl topped with slices of marinated and grilled chicken breast, cucumber salad, vegetables and a peanut sauce vinaigrette with a spicy Asian cucumber salad

5 from 2 votes

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Cook Mode

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Marinade Time 5 hours hrs

Total Time 5 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Cuisine Asian

Servings 4 servings

Equipment

• PLANTERS Lightly Salted Dry Roasted Peanuts, 16 oz. Resealable Jar | Peanut Snack | Great Movie Snack, Active Lifestyle Snack and Party Size Snack | Protein Snack | Kosher Peanuts
• Vitamix 5200 Blender Professional-Grade, Self-Cleaning 64 oz Container, Black - 001372
• Meat Tenderizer, 48 Stainless Steel Sharp Needle Blade, Heavy Duty Cooking Tool for Tenderizing Beef, Turkey, Chicken, Steak, Veal, Pork, Fish, Christmas Cooking Set

Ingredients

  

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For Chicken Marinade

• 2 pounds chicken breasts or thighs
• 2 stalk lemongrass chopped
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 thumbs sized piece of ginger grated

For Peanut Sauce Vinaigrette

• 3/4 cup Coconut Milk I use reduced fat
• 1/3 cup peanut butter use fresh ground, not a sweetened one or one with emulsifiers
• 1 tablespoons red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 tsp water or more to get desired consistency
• 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
• Additional heat as desired: Sriracha chili paste, etc...

Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad

• 1 cucumber sliced into thin half-circles
• 1 shallot sliced thin
• 1-2 hot peppers I used 2 jalapenos that had turned red, but use what suits you!, sliced very thin
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

For Rice Bowl

• 1 1/2 cups black rice cooked in 3 cups of water
• 1 cup sugar or snow peas blanched or fresh
• 1 cup broccoli or bean sprouts
• Dry roasted peanuts
• Cilantro
• Lime cut into 4 wedges

Instructions

 

For Chicken Marinade

• If using breasts, pound with a meat tenderizer to thin them out for quicker grilling.
• Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until fully combined.
• Pour over chicken in a container for at least 2-3 hours. I marinate mine for 7 hours and they are perfection...tasty and moist!
• 30 minutes before you want to serve your meal, remove chicken from marinade and grill (inside or out) for 7-10 minutes on each side, until cooked through.
• Slice thin

For Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad

• Heat vinegar, salt, and sugar in the microwave or on the stove until sugar and salt are dissolved.
• Place all sliced vegetables in a glass bowl and pour vinegar over vegetables.
• Refrigerate until ready to use. I make my salad 1 hour before eating to allow flavors to meld.

For Vinaigrette

• Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender
• Process until combined and set aside.

Assemble Satay Rice Bowl

• Divide Rice among 4 bowls
• Top with grilled chicken, vegetables and vinaigrette
• Garnish with peanuts, cilantro, and limes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g

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While we cook Thai food frequently at home, we’ve also made it a point to find a Thai restaurant in most places we visit on our travels.  If you’re traveling soon, check out our list on this post. And pin this recipe if you might want to make it in the future

If you are looking for more chicken recipes, check out these 9 leftover chicken recipes, Indian-inspired grilled chicken and grilled zaatar chicken that I have put together for you. If you’re more interested in the Asian thing, pop on over and have a look at some of our family favs like this easy Shrimp Sushi Bowl or the best Pad Thai recipe.

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