Please help with my lack of creativity

[KennethT]

I am in a rut...  For the life of me, I can't think of anything interesting to do with the following ingredients... help please!!!!

 

skin on chicken thighs

cilantro (including the stems)

limes

ginger

 

My pantry is well stocked with most things needed for anything west of the pacific ocean...

[jmacnaughtan]

Roast chicken with a Dark & Stormy on the side

[Anna N]

Step one: put the cilantro roots and all on the compost heap.

 

Seriously, I don’t have anything to offer you that I can say I have made but when I googled your ingredients I come up with some very interesting dishes. That is where I always start when I’m stuck as to what to do with ingredients. I may never follow to a T anything that shows up but it does get the creative juices flowing. 

 

PS.  I think this could be the beginning of a wonderful new topic.

[Beebs]

Fish sauce chicken! Lime juice, cilantro, fish sauce, chilis or chili paste, sugar, tamarind if you have it. Slather it all over and pop it in the oven. Glaze with extra sauce/marinade. One of my go-to dinners.

I don't put ginger in it, but I don't see why you can't. Or stir fry with bok choy & garlic for a veg side. Plus rice.

[Katie Meadow]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

I am in a rut...  For the life of me, I can't think of anything interesting to do with the following ingredients... help please!!!!

 

skin on chicken thighs

cilantro (including the stems)

limes

ginger

 

My pantry is well stocked with most things needed for anything west of the pacific ocean...

The above sounds good, but you could simplify things if you are lacking fish sauce or tamarind. Just saute the chicken to brown and remove. Add some ginger and garlic to saute briefly, then some chicken broth and the cilantro, minus the stems, chopped.. Add back chicken, braise half an hour or so and add sriracha or whatever hot sauce you have to taste. Serve over rice with a squirt of lime juice, or, if really soupy, maybe with rice noodles. That's what I would probably do if I didn't want to leave the house or think about it too much. 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Katie Meadow (log)

[Shelby]

I was going to say similar--make a sauce out of the cilantro, lime and ginger, rub into the thighs and roast--kinda like Asian wings.  Serve with my latest obsession-drunken noodles.

 

De-bone and make a pho.

 

De-bone and make an Asian type chicken "chili".

[heidih]

I think you are in an NYC apartment but the smoke is done in a wok.. If looking for a change of pace. Maybe tea smoke and then do a pounded dipping sauce with the rest. https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2015/03/tea-smoked-chicken-recipe.html

[KennethT]

@heidih Yes, I'm in a small NYC apartment, but I have a stove-top smoker and I'm not shy about using it!

 

So far, I've decided to marinate the thighs in a paste made from pounded ginger, garlic, cilantro stems, shrimp paste, chili, palm sugar, fish sauce and a touch of coconut milk.  Yes, it's very SE Asian-y and hence not far out of what I do on a regular basis, but it has no lemongrass (which would not be out of place here) and ginger is not that typical... so it's slightly different from my norm.  What is different is that I think I'm going to steam-bake the thighs in the CSO - and probably make a dipping sauce from garlic/ginger/fish sauce/palm sugar/chili/lime juice/cilantro leaves.

 

Yes it looks like vomit... But it smells great!

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by KennethT (log)

[KennethT]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

I was going to say similar--make a sauce out of the cilantro, lime and ginger, rub into the thighs and roast--kinda like Asian wings.  Serve with my latest obsession-drunken noodles.

 

De-bone and make a pho.

 

De-bone and make an Asian type chicken "chili".

For all the SE Asian stuff you make, and the gardening you do in the summer, I'm a little surprised you don't have a bunch of herbs growing in the windowsill*... like cilantro, lemongrass, holy basil, etc.... it would take the noodle bowls or drunken noodles to a whole nother place!!!!

 

*or somewhere room temp where there is a good amount of light

 

Is it because the cats might eat them or knock them over?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

A kind friend at work promised me a curry leaf plant.  I plan to order some dried curry leaves next time The Spice House has a sale.

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

4 hours ago, KennethT said:

I am in a rut...  For the life of me, I can't think of anything interesting to do with the following ingredients... help please!!!!

 

skin on chicken thighs

cilantro (including the stems)

limes

ginger

 

My pantry is well stocked with most things needed for anything west of the pacific ocean...

This screams Thai chicken salad to me.     

Edited February 7, 2020 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

A kind friend at work promised me a curry leaf plant.  I plan to order some dried curry leaves next time The Spice House has a sale.

 

to me, dried curry leaves taste nothing like the fresh ones.  I can get fresh curry leaves on teh stem at two stores within walking distance of me... one of these days I'm going to try to root it.  If I can do it, I'd be happy to root another cutting and send it to you... but your friend at work may be faster than me - I don't anticipate being able to get to it for several months...

 

I make a couple of different curries that use them... I usually make a big batch and freeze it - they both freeze really well.

Edited February 7, 2020 by KennethT (log)

[liuzhou]

19 minutes ago, KennethT said:

to me, dried curry leaves taste nothing like the fresh ones.

 

I concur. I had a fresh bush when I lived in London. It was one of the few plants that didn't shrivel up and die as soon as I turned my back on it. Would love to still have one but ...

I can't even find dried leaves. Few specifically or mainly Indian spices are easily available here.

[KennethT]

I've decided to make an un-satay... the marinade for the thighs is close enough, so now, I'll just make the curry/peanut sauce.  I've never made satay before, but I still dream of the satay I had at satay clubs in Singapore.... hopefully this will be close.

[Shelby]

13 hours ago, KennethT said:

Is it because the cats might eat them or knock them over?

You hit the nail on the head  .    I used to keep basil and chives but now I don't have a spot that has sun that the cats can't get to.  I can't even have bouquets of flowers where they can get at them--they eat everything lol.

 

Your chicken looks delicious!

[KennethT]

4 minutes ago, Shelby said:

You hit the nail on the head  .    I used to keep basil and chives but now I don't have a spot that has sun that the cats can't get to.  I can't even have bouquets of flowers where they can get at them--they eat everything lol.

 

Your chicken looks delicious!

I know it's a bit more effort - but what about a small grow tent?  You could probably get a bunch of different herbs in a 2x2 grow tent with a couple inexpensive LED light fixtures.  The tent zips up so there's no 'unauthorized' entry....

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

I know it's a bit more effort - but what about a small grow tent?  You could probably get a bunch of different herbs in a 2x2 grow tent with a couple inexpensive LED light fixtures.  The tent zips up so there's no 'unauthorized' entry....

That is an idea.  I'll ruminate on that.

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

That is an idea.  I'll ruminate on that.

 

to aid your rumination.... these guys make the best grow tents out there... they're a little more expensive than the average you can find on amazon, but the quality is fantastic - they're indestructible and easy to clean...

https://www.gorillagrowtent.com/

[Owtahear]

Wow....like the old lawyer joke..........whatever you make "that's a good start!"

[KennethT]

Here's the final results:

It was pretty good - but one thing I didn't think about is the fact that the underside of the chicken doesn't get any browning in the CSO, so the shrimp paste was still a little raw tasting - shrimp paste goes through a radical transformation when fully cooked.  This is why the shrimp paste works well in traditional satay because all of the surfaces get a nice browning on the grill...  like this:

 

 

Also, when I got home from work, my wife and I decided to go with a lime/fish sauce/garlic/chili/cilantro sauce rather than the curried peanut sauce... it's a lot healthier!

Edited February 8, 2020 by KennethT (log)

[heidih]

Sounds good but I think satay needs the turning  the skewers all around smoky heat as I am sure you have seen in SEA.  I also prefer the lighter sauce.  Just like i do not care for peanut sauce with Viet fresh spring rolls - seems to hide the flavor. Not to say I wont add some to my rice... I love roasted crushed peanuts as an add in  Oh and yes the shrimp paste needs that "fire"  transforms

[nickrey]

I would have added ingredients and made a Thai Green Chicken Curry out of those ingredients; however, give the health statement above, the coconut milk may not be appreciated.

[Okanagancook]

These chicken thighs might have benefited from being cooking in an air fryer.  I just did four thighs that had been marinated in a cashew/cilantro/lime/soy sauce marinade (from Melissa Clark).  The air fryer will brown on both sides although the thighs were turned half way since the top does get a bit browner.  

Edited February 17, 2020 by Okanagancook
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[FeChef]

Late to the party, im sure your dishes turned out well. Just wanted to say, the only ingredient missing was soy sauce for marinated chicken for fajita's.