I still had almost all the ingredients for the marinade of the ‘Korean’ beef dish, except the spring onions. That was a good marinade, so I decided to use some finely chopped kaffir leaves in place of the spring onions and marinate the chicken.

The mushrooms I decided to sauté in some olive oil, butter and leftover coriander. I added a bit of baby corn and broccoli, which I also had on hand.

Chicken Kaffir with sauteed mushrooms

On the whole, it turned out rather well. The one mistake I made was not filleting the chicken breast, so it took forever to cook and the marinate had more or less caramelized by the time it did. Other than that, it turned out well. This recipe would make two light meals.

Ingredients

Vegetables

Preparation Method

• Mix all of the main ingredients except the chicken together in a bowl.
• Add the chicken to the mix and make sure it gets coated well. Marinate the chicken in the sauce for at least one hour in the refrigerator.
• Just before you’re ready to cook the chicken, you can prepare the vegetables. Heat the butter and olive oil in a skillet. Add the mushrooms, baby corn and coriander. Sauté until the mushrooms begin to brown slightly, and then add the broccoli. The broccoli will take just a few seconds to turn dark green, which for me means it’s cooked just right. Spoon the vegetables onto a plate or serving dish.
• Remove the marinated chicken from the refrigerator and cook it in a hot skillet. Turn it and make sure it’s cooked through. Just as it’s getting done, you can add any marinade left to the skillet, and it will reduce quickly to a nice dark brown sauce.
• Transfer the cooked chicken to the plate along side the vegetables.

A basket of Kaffir Lime leaves on sale.

The leaves are a bit odd, in that they usually appear to be two heart-shaped leaves occupying a single stem end to end. The leaves are also a bit thick and fleshy. The fruit of the kaffir lime (ma-groot) itself is rather unusual as well, in that its green colored skin is very lumpy, quite unlike other citrus fruits. You may find the fruits on sale at the curry spice stall, since the zest is used in some Thai dishes. Herbal shampoos made from the kaffir lime are widely available in most supermarkets in Thailand. It is supposed to prevent dandruff. Some people even believe that the kaffir lime wards off evil spirits (like garlic to vampires) and hang it outside their house.