I always welcome a quick but tasty recipe — who doesn’t? — and that’s especially true as we move into the busy holiday season. This year, with all the disruptions and work from moving, I’m especially happy when a new dish fits the bill. As this one does.
It uses the cashew butter I made in the previous post. It also uses coconut milk. Good as it is, it could be stellar with about 1/2 teaspoon of fresh-squeezed lime juice. As I stood at the stove, slowly whisking and checking the seasoning, I wished I had a lime but I’m replenishing food a little at a time and haven’t bought limes yet. At one point, the “Put a lime in the coconut” song popped into my brain and remains lodged there.
This sauce is based on an Alton Brown recipe which uses a cashew butter loaded with honey. I can’t see honey in this at all. This would be fine with grilled pork as well as chicken. He says it’s good on rice too, but I can’t see that either. It’s not the first time we haven’t seen eye to eye and probably won’t be the last.
The sauce is thick enough to briefly show the trails of the whisk and is thin enough to pour. I drizzled some on the chicken and used more for dipping. The dish is so fast that grilling the chicken took longer than making the cashew butter and the sauce combined. Not bad for a busy weeknight meal.
Cashew and Coconut Sauce
Adapted from Alton Brown
3/4 cup cashew butter (1 full recipe)
5 oz coconut milk
1/4 tsp cayenne, or more to taste
pinch of salt
fresh-squeezed lime juice (ella’s option)
Put all the ingredients in a small or medium saucepan over medium-low heat and whisk until smooth. Cook until fully heated through, whisking from time to time. Adjust seasoning if needed and serve over grilled skinless, boneless chicken breasts or grilled pork. Sprinkle with more cayenne, if desired.
Makes enough to generously sauce 4 to 6 breasts. The sauce is closer to the color in the bottom photo than the top.
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Oh, I could TOTALLY put this on rice! brown rice! And little cubes of tempeh, yum.
um, I imagine it has one or two calories?
Really, Muse? On rice? Even on brown rice it would make for such a beige plate of food. I still can’t see it, the sweetness with the rice, but that’s my palate alone. Let me know if you put it on rice and how you like it.
Yeah, there’s a calorie or two. Notice how little I drizzled onto the chicken? Then I dipped my way into oblivion, so there was another paving stone in that famous road of good intentions.
I have not heard of cashew butter. sounds a great combo with chicken. And having you say it’s quick to prepare, I would have to try it soon.
Janet @Gourmet Traveller88´s last blog ..grilled mahi-mahi teriyaki & tomato cucumber salad
Hi, Janet! It is delicious and so simple. It can be very expensive here when sold ready-made, even though there’s virtually no labor involved. I also like knowing that when I make it, it’s as fresh as can be. Good to see you!
When I lived in Liberia, the most common meal was “soup and rice”. The “soup” was whatever went on top of the rice, and it was more stew-like than soup-ish.
Palm butter with dried fish or chicken was a favorite (if you keep cooking your palm butter you get palm oil) and another yummy dish was peanut soup – made very much like your sauce here, although the peanut “butter” was made with mortar and pestle in the back yard
The peanut butter was thinned with broth or who-knows-what, and then onions, red pepper and chicken added. It always was served over rice. I think I’ll try the cashew/coconut combo – with some added chicken and that bit of lime… I’m going to have a hard time not starting it right now!
shoreacres´s last blog ..A Different Kind of Horror
Oh, I have just the recipe for you, shore:
http://foodpluspolitics.com/2008/01/25/senegalese-peanut-lamb-stew/
It’s amazingly delicious, one of my favorites.
My problem with the cashew/coconut sauce over rice, aside from the unappetizing look it would have, is that the sweetness of the coconut predominates. It’s not overwhelming, not enough that I would describe it as sweet rather than savory, but there’s enough of it that it would be a mouthful of sauce and little taste from the rice. I love Yankee chili over rice and that Senegalese stew almost demands it, but to my palate this sauce is an accompaniment, not the star.
Now this looks really good! The lime juice sounds perfect to accent the spicy cayenne.
I did a chicken in coconut sauce from Claudia Roden for Passover: Jews in India. She took the flavors toward a sweet curry with lots of onions and golden raisins (whole cashews) and served over rice.
I’ve got an extra can of coconut milk from then, so I’m thinking this recipe is calling my name…
Tess´s last blog ..Mentaiko Spaghetti: wafuu supagetti
Roden is so good. I assume it was basmati? This sauce on white rice (and you know that’s what AB meant, bless his sweet, southern palate) without peas or scallions or something quite savory mixed in for color, taste and texture just makes me think of Oliver Twist and his bowl of gruel. Of course, he did ask for more…