Coconut-Lime Chicken Skewers
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Marinated grilled chicken with crunchy cashews, grated coconut and charred scallions, inspired by South Indian flavors. Whole 30, Paleo and Gluten-Free recipe.
This coconut lime chicken recipe came about after one of my former personal chef clients wanted a diet reset.
Always looking for healthier ways to eat, they requested some ideas that were Whole 30 compliant.
What is the Whole 30 diet?
In case you’re not familiar with the plan, Whole 30 functions as a kind of lifestyle reset.
It’s a diet that focuses on changing detrimental eating habits, making a kind of clean sweep of “bad” choices.
While the plan allows all animal proteins, spices, many condiments and lots of fresh produce, it forbids all added sugar, dairy and grains (to name a few).
Many “healthy” diets seem cruelly restrictive, especially a program like Whole 30 which has a long list of foods to avoid.
It seems limiting, but there’s actually a lot you can do with even that short list of food.
Fortunately, as a personal chef I’ve been trained to customize menu plans for people with all sorts of needs.
Rather than see a list as an obstacle, I approach it as a creative challenge — instead of what isn’t allowed on a specific meal plan, I look at what is there.
I find that it helps to come up with a flavor profile: Ingredients like coconut milk, citrus and spice jump out and point my culinary compass toward the Southern Hemisphere.
I’ve learned so much about food and cooking from writers who open the doors to cultures I probably wouldn’t ever travel to or experience firsthand.
Flipping through a great cookbook can be its own journey, and food is often the best way to discover the heart and soul of a place.
Flavors of South Asian cuisine
A favorite book that sets me dreaming of culinary paradise is Savoring the Spice Coast of India: Fresh Flavors from Kerala.
Kerala is located on the southwestern tip of India on the Arabian sea, “a colorful land of spices and coconut palms.” Sign me up!
Keralan cooking is fresh and flavorful, based on an abundance of the native tropical ingredients that thrive there:
- Coconuts
- Ginger
- Spices like black pepper, chili and cardamom
Some of the ingredients you’ll try in this recipe:
- Cardamom and black pepper: both of these aromatic spices grow and thrive in tropical climates. Cardamom’s distinctive floral-citrus note is popular in baked goods, but it’s also really good in curries and savory dishes paired with creamy, fatty coconut milk. Black pepper plays in the background, offering sharpness and warm heat.
- Nigella seed — confusingly also known as black onion seed, black cumin and kalonji — is a great spice to add to your cooking. It looks like a black sesame seed and has a mild, intriguing flavor of toasty onion and oregano. You can find it in some markets, but if it’s hard to track down, leave it out or substitute with sesame seed.
- Coconut milk powder is nice to have around. Not to be confused with coconut flour, which is made from the dried pulp of the coconut, coconut powder is made from dried coconut cream. You can rehydrate it with as much water as you want to make thick or more liquid coconut milk. Coconut powder comes in handy if you ever need a small amount of coconut milk and don’t want to open a whole can (liquid coconut milk is very perishable). You can also add coconut powder to smoothies and sauces where you want coconut flavor but not the liquid.
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Coconut Lime Chicken Skewers
Ingredients
Cashew-Coconut Gremolata:
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) grated unsweetened coconut
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) roasted unsalted cashews, finely chopped
- Grated zest of 1 lime (juice the rest of the lime for marinade)
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon nigella seed, or substitute with sesame seed
- ¼ teaspoon flaky sea salt
Chicken:
- 1 ½ pounds (680 g) boneless, skinless chicken (breasts or thighs), sliced into 2-inch chunks
- 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh lime juice
- ½ cup (120 ml) coconut milk
- ½ teaspoon EACH ground cardamom, ground black pepper, ground coriander and ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 green onions/scallions
Coconut-Lime Chutney:
- ½ cup (120 ml) coconut powder or unsweetened canned coconut cream
- 1 serrano or green jalapeno chili pepper, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) water
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) fresh lime juice
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
Prepare the chicken
- Put the chicken in a container suitable for marinating, such as a bowl or baking dish.
- Combine the ginger, shallot, lime juice, coconut milk, salt and spices. Pour over the chicken. Cover and marinate 15-30 minutes at room temperature or up to 6 hours in the refrigerator.
- Heat an oiled stovetop griddle or outdoor grill to medium-high. Thread the chicken onto skewers.
- Cook the chicken until firm and cooked through, rotating the pieces with tongs, about 5 minutes per side. Lay the scallions on the grill and cook until they’re wilted and charred in spots.
Make the chutney
- Stir the coconut powder or coconut cream with the rest of the ingredients.
Mix the gremolata
- Mix the ingredients for the gremolata in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle the chicken with 2 tablespoons or so of the gremolata. Serve with the scallions, additional gremolata and the sauce on the side.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- Gremolata is an Italian blend of chopped herbs and aromatics, but here I’ve given it an Indian accent by using cashews, dried coconut flakes and cilantro.
- Accompany this chicken with steamed basmati rice or rice noodles if your not restricted by a plan.
- If you don’t have coconut milk powder on hand, use 1/2 cup of well-stirred creamy coconut milk or coconut cream to make the chutney.
Nutrition
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about making cooking fun and doable, with easy to follow tested recipes and incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
Such delicious skewers, I love the cashew gremolata!
I have never tried nigella seeds, this entire dish looks amazing, a great new take on the chicken skewer, I gotta try this out