Lime-ginger-chili Chicken thighs

[doreen T]

hi all,

This is an adaptation of my Lemon-Garlic-Herb-Chicken Thighs recipe (http://www.lowcarb.ca/recipes/poultry104.html) . And yes, they are both original, from me to you!!... ;)

Lime-Garlic-Ginger-Sesame Chicken Thighs

8 large chicken thighs, skin removed, but bone in
grated rind, and juice of 1 large lime,
3 large cloves garlic, minced or grated
1" piece fresh ginger root, grated
1/2 tsp garam masala spice
hot red chili flakes to taste
2 Tbsp canola or other mild vegetable oil
1 Tbsp dark toasted sesame oil
3 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) for garnish
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- place chicken parts in 9 x 9" baking dish. Blend remaining ingredients in small bowl, pour over chicken and mix to combine. Cover, and marinate for 1 to 4 hrs in the fridge. Place uncovered dish in cold oven, turn to 350 degrees F. and bake for 45 to 50 min. or till juices run clear when pierced with a fork. Baste the chicken with pan juices during baking.

Total carbs, around 10, so just over 1 carb gram per piece. This is so good cold, I intentionally make leftovers.

This recipe can be adapted for chicken leg quarters, or chicken breast pieces....... just adjust baking time up or down depending on size.

Hope you enjoy, ... :)

Doreen

[Sharon]

Sounds great Doreen, but what is garam masala spice..this one is new to me??

Sharon

[r.mines]

Thanks, Doreen, sounds yummy and easy. I love hot and curry-ish tasting things. It's a keeper!

Rachel

[doreen T]

It's an Indian mixed-spice, with coriander seed, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper - sometimes nutmeg. Some cooks vary their blends depending on the type of food, eg, a vegetable dish vs. lamb. Unlike curry powder, it doesn't have the strong yellow colour (turmeric) and it's not hot.

You can buy prepared garam masala wherever Indian curries and spices are sold. I love East Indian and Middle Eastern food, so I buy the whole seeds and mix my own masalas.

Doreen

[JenaRoman]

Chicken Enchiladas

2 cups cooked chicken, small dice
1 8 oz cream cheese
Combine these two ingredients, then evenly divide between 8 low-carb tortillas (I use Mama Lupe's), roll up and place in a casserole dish.

1 cup sour cream
1 cup salsa
Combine and pour over tortillas in the dish, smoothing out to cover fairly well.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, remove and cover with about 4 ounces of grated cheddar cheese, return to the oven for a few minutes just to melt cheese!

5-6 carbs per serving, depending upon the carbs in the salsa!

[GlendaRC]

Doreen, there are so many wonderful recipes on this site that I haven't seen yet ... this was one of them, so I'm very grateful to JenaRoman for bumping this thread! Your chicken thighs go into my "try very soon" file!! They sound wonderful.

[galfridae]

bump, so I can grab this recipe when I get home ;)

[Nancy LC]

Sounds great! I'll have to try it. What's the reason for removing the skin? It's my favorite part.

[ImOnMyWay]

This is delicious. I left the skin on, used leg and thigh quarters. I didn't have garam masala, so I used a similar spice blend, ras al hanout. I bet it would be good with Chinese five spice powder, too.

I was lazy and sliced the lime thinly rather than grating the rind and juicing. this works well if you're braising, covered, on top of the stove, or using a slow cooker, but NOT baking uncovered in the oven, as the rinds turn rock hard. But the chicken had great flavor.

[doreen T]

... What's the reason for removing the skin? It's my favorite part.
Yikes!! Sorry I didn't see your question before this, Nancy :o.

Okay so .. why skinless thighs? Well, it's not due to fat-phobia or political correctness! :lol: I typically buy large "family size" trays of skin-on thighs, then remove the skin and globs of fat to make shmaltz (chicken fat for frying) and crispy fried chicken skin snacks. Here's my old thread about .. The Joys of Chicken Fat.

This lime-chili recipe was based on one I'd made earlier, which is featured on our host site, lowcarb.ca ... LEMON-GARLIC-HERB CHICKEN (http://www.lowcarb.ca/recipes/poultry104.html). With that one, I'd originally tried it with the skin on and was disappointed with the result. It ended up soupy, with hard "chewy" skin as ImOnMyWay mentioned.

What I wanted was chicken with a sticky gooey sauce that I could marinate then bake in the same pan; which I could eat with my fingers and would be good cold or reheated. I wanted to put the cold pan straight from the refrigerator into the oven.

Enter Karen Barnaby :rheart:. Karen suggested I take the skin off the thighs (which were the source of "soupiness"), then use a smaller baking pan so the thighs were relatively crowded. I tried this and .... perfection. Chicken thigh pieces that I could eat with my fingers with a gooey sauce. And were perfectly yummy to eat as cold leftovers.

So then I created THIS recipe with lime, chilis and garam masala for a more Asian flavour. Mmmmmmm. Loved it. Karen loved it too .. and in fact this recipe was included in her Low-Carb Gourmet (http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=lowcarb+gourmet+barnaby&rh=n%3A916520%2Ck%3Alowcarb+gourmet+barnaby) book, but was renamed "Doreen's Thighs'' (p. 174) :lol:

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Note that my recipe above calls for a 9"x9" baking pan for 8 thighs. If you choose to make this with skin-on thighs, I suggest using a larger pan so the pieces aren't crowded. It might be better to marinate the pieces in a large bowl or ziploc bag, then put in a larger baking pan (eg. 9" x 13") for cooking. Maybe line the pan with foil and use non-stick spray to keep it from sticking and make less mess for clean-up :idea:.

Note that the cooking time of 45 to 50 minutes includes putting the cold pan straight from the fridge into a cold oven. If you choose to preheat the oven first, and put the marinated chicken into a room-temperature pan, of course you'll want reduce cooking time.


I haven't made this in a long time, but now I want to make it again soon! Just pulled a pack of chicken thighs out of the freezer into the fridge to thaw overnight, and yes!! .. I have all ingredients on hand :yum:


.

[Judynyc]

OMG! Doreen! Thank you for this recipe!
I just made it and it is lovely, truly yummy! I used boneless thighs instead and all the other flavors melded together in such a great way. I let it marinate overnight and just took it out of the oven. :yum: :yum: :yum:

FYI- the lime zest and juice gave it such a nice flavor, along with the ginger, sesame oil and garam masala.

Yayy for Doreen's Thighs! :lol: