I had never considered making a marinade with tomato paste until I saw a recipe doing just that. The results were outstanding. This is one of those dishes with a great effort-to-deliciousness ratio.
Make sure to really pack the chicken onto the skewers so it doesn’t dry out as it cooks.
What you’ll need
- 3 oz (0.33 cups) tomato paste
- 2T vegetable oil
- 2T fish sauce
- 1T palm or brown sugar
- 0.75t liquid smoke
- 0.25t white pepper
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into kabob-size pieces
- Skewers (metal or bamboo—bamboo skewers need to be soaked at least an hour before use. You can cover the exposed ends with foil to prevent burning.)
What to do
Mix the tomato paste, oil, fish sauce, sugar, liquid smoke and white pepper in a bowl large enough to accommodate the chicken. Mix in the chicken, ensuring that each piece of chicken is well coated. Cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours—the longer, the better.
When you’re ready to cook, fire up your grill or broiler to whatever settings you use for charring meat. If using a grill, clean and oil the grates. If using a broiler, put grill racks in a sheet pan covered with foil and spray the racks with cooking spray.
While your grill or broiler is heating, thread the chicken onto the skewers so there’s no space between the chicken pieces on the skewers.
Cook the chicken until browned and slightly charred on the heat side—about 8 or so minutes. Carefully turn over each skewer with tongs and let them cook for about 8 more minutes, until the heat side is equally charred.
Serve hot.
Sounds good. Love that it comes with an effort-to-deliciousness ratio.
Thanks! Oh, that ratio is so important. It seems too many recipes call for more time and effort than the food is worth. That said, shortcuts often lead to lackluster results.