Cilantro Lime Chicken

FlemishMinx's Note:

My husband has recently declared my kitchen a cilantro-free zone :( so unfortunately I haven't yet tried this dish, but I am posting it because it sounds good to me and thought it might appeal to others as well. The recipe comes from Ainsley Harriott, a British chef, and he cautions not to marinate the chicken longer than two hours as the lime juice will break down the chicken to the point that it will fall apart. Preparation time does not include marinating time.

• Total Time: 20 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves, plus extra to garnish
• 2 teaspoons black peppercorns, coarsely ground
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 limes, juice only
• 2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Directions:

1. Make the marinade of garlic, cilantro, ground peppercorns, sugar, lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce and sunflower oil.
2. Blend well.
3. Place chicken breasts with marinade in a shallow dish or resealable plastic bag, coating them well, and set in the refrigerator at least 1 hour and no more than 2, turning them from time to time.
4. Preheat a ridged griddle pan or heavy non-stick frying pan and cook the chicken for 7-8 minutes each side until the chicken is cooked through.
5. Serve hot or cold, garnished with cilantro leaves.

Reviews

[Chef #622972]

This was good! I doubled the marinade because I wanted to make sure there was plenty to cover the chicken while marinading. We had it with rice and a black bean and corn medley.

[Cynna]

OMG, this was sooo delicious it was almost ridiculous! I used worchestershire sauce in place of the fish sauce and I used bone-in breasts rather than skinless, boneless cuz that's all I happened to have on-hand. I also had to use 2 key limes instead of regular limes and filled in with lemon juice for what I lacked in lime juice. I let the chicken marinate in the fridge for an hour and then I baked it in the oven in a shallow pan @ 425 degrees covered in foil for the first 30 mins and then removed the foil, flipped the breast and cooked @ 450 uncovered for 20 minutes and it was soooo delicious. The marinade reduced and made a lovely sauce for dipping hunks of white meat into. Simply gorgeous. A new house favorite! Thanks for sharing!

[Mugsiewugsie]

I'm in mourning over your cilantro-free kitchen! In your honor, I made this with a liberal doubling of everything (used some fresh lime and some bottled key lime juice), and it's the best chicken marinade I've ever had! Fantastic.