The barbecue spread will be incomplete without some chicken. What about chicken skewers that get a quick sear on the grill? It’s quick without the worry that the chicken is undercooked or overcooked. If you crave a change of flavor, I can’t say enough about the dynamite taste of a Chinese five-spice and coffee-marinated chicken skewers. I’ve already made them several times since I found the recipe. It’s the right flavor for the occasion amid the hot and stormy days this summer.
For an Ottolenghi’s recipe, this one is remarkable in how few ingredients there are. For sure, it carries the usual distinctive flavor. You do taste the five spices with the common mix of: cinnamon, fennel seed, star anise, cloves and Sichuan peppercorn. However, you can never tell that there is coffee in the marinade.
The beauty of this mix is the unique combination of the five spices and coffee — odd but highly effective in hitting all the right notes. Coffee adds the bitterness and accentuates the savory quality. Blend the spices, coffee, fresh garlic and sugar in a bowl. Whisk in the oil and coat the chicken pieces with the marinade for at least an hour, if possible, overnight.
This would be a great dish for a feast or a barbecue, or on a bed of couscous or rice; a lamb’s lettuce and spring onion salad would be welcome, too.
Yotam Ottolenghi
Do you know Chinese five spices can be used in desserts too? I have used it in a chocolate cake. Don’t take my word for it; it works very well and is equally effective as in savory applications.
Chinese Five Spice- and Coffee-Marinated Chicken Skewers
The joy of marinating food is that you do a bit of work in advance, then leave time to do the rest. Coffee might sound an odd ingredient for a marinade, but trust me, it adds a real depth of flavour and doesn’t actually make the chicken taste very much of coffee.
Ingredients
- 4 tsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 150ml boiling water and left to cool down
- ½ tsp Chinese five-spice
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 1½ tbsp light brown muscovado sugar
- Salt
- 2 tbsp groundnut oil
- 6 skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into 4cm cubes (about 650g)
- 8 30cm-long wooden skewers, soaked in water for 20 minutes
Instructions
Put the coffee, five-spice, garlic and sugar in a medium bowl with three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt. Whisk to dissolve the sugar, then whisk in the oil. Add the chicken and mix with your hands until it’s coated all over, then cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, ideally three or even overnight.
Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Thread the chicken pieces on to the skewers; you don’t want to overcrowd them, so put only five or six pieces on each. Lay the skewers on a 25cm x 35cm oven tray lined with aluminium foil, then roast for 10 minutes. Turn the skewers, brush all over with the reserved marinade and roast for 10 minutes more, until cooked through and golden. Transfer to a platter and serve warm.
Notes
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/08/roast-trout-tomato-orange-salad-recipe-potato-chorizo-gruyere-lamb-patty-fish-taco-yotam-ottolenghi
2 Comments
LydiaF1963
August 27, 2022 at 2:31 pmI sincerely doubt I’d ever come up with the combination of coffee and 5 spice powder on my own. But now that you (and Ottolenghi) have mentioned it, I can taste it in my imagination and it works. Probably tastes better in real life, though, so I think we’ll give it a try sometime this week.
Kim+Tracy
August 28, 2022 at 8:26 pmWow..what an interesting mix of flavors, but I can see how they would all work well together. The chicken looks beautiful and almost has a glazed appearance.