Friday, July 31, 2015

chicken pineapple bacon kebabs with coconut rice



I may have been slacking on posts, but I'm still cooking regularly. These are one of my favorite things I've been making this summer... pieces of chicken and pineapple inter weaved with bacon on a handy dandy skewer. These come together quickly enough for a weeknight meal. I've made them 3 times in the past month. 


Chicken Pineapple Bacon Kebabs
-14 wooden skewers, soaked for 15 minutes or so
-1 lb. chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 42 bite-size pieces
-1 lb. fresh pineapple cut into 28 bite-size pieces
-14 slices of bacon (thin-sliced)
-3/4 cups brown sugar
-1 Tablespoon chili powder, or to taste
-1 teaspoon salt
-2 Tablespoons soy sauce

To make the skewers, poke a skewer through one end of the bacon, add a chicken piece, fold the bacon and skewer it to cover the piece of chicken, add a piece of pineapple, followed by another fold of the bacon, another chicken piece, bacon, pineapple, chicken, bacon. Each skewer should have 3 pieces of chicken and 2 pineapple pieces, inter weaved with 1 slice of bacon. The recipe makes 14 skewers.

Combine the brown sugar, chili powder and salt and rub onto the skewers generously. Cover and let sit for at least 20 minutes up to a few hours.When you remove the skewers to the grill, save the resulting liquid and add the soy sauce. Stir this glaze and set aside.

Preheat a grill and cook the skewers until the chicken is cooked through and the bacon is crispy in most places, about 5 minutes per side. Brush with the glaze as you're cooking. Be careful, due to the bacon fat there will be lots of flare-ups. 
Serve with coconut rice and lime wedges.

Coconut Rice
-1 cup jasmine rice
-1 can light coconut milk
-1/4 cup water

Rinse the rice a couple times and drain. Add the water and coconut milk and cook according rice package directions. Watch carefully, though, because the coconut milk makes the rice more prone to burning. 

post-marination, pre-grilling
The fire got a little too hot there for a minute.