When I was in college and came to visit Portland, there was a Caribbean restaurant called Sweetwater's Jam House that Stanley would sometimes take me to. One of the dishes that we loved there was the Pineapple-Ginger Chicken. When I got back to Boston after the first time I had it, I started working on replicating the dish... which turned out to be necessary since the restaurant closed not long after I came up with the perfect version of Pineapple-Ginger Chicken.
It took a few rounds of tweaking (from some recipe for Pineapple-Ginger Pork that I found via much googling in 1999 and would be hard-pressed to find again), but when it was just right it quickly became one of my favorite summer dinners. (When entertaining, you can serve it with my go-to recipe for Coconut Shrimp, which I tracked down just now by googling the entire ingredient list... So. Good.) Things start off with the marinade combining a 6-cup can of pineapple juice with 2 tablespoons of mustard power and (nominally) 9 tablespoons each of soy sauce, garlic, and ginger.
I tend to use "mounded tablespoons" when it comes to the ginger... such that 9 Emily-tablespoons is about one regular-person cup...
The garlic in my original version is 9 tablespoons of jarred minced garlic. (I know, I know... but I was in college... We all start somewhere.) When I was making the marinade this time, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a jar of that stuff, so I used fresh garlic and used a bit less (probably around 4-5 tablespoons). If you use the jarred stuff, though, (which is really perfectly OK in this marinade) then I would use 9 tablespoons...
So, that's the marinade. It's a big batch, but you'll reduce it later to make a delicious sauce, so it's good to have a lot. However many chicken breasts you want (usually around 6) are butterflied and tossed into the marinade overnight. When dinner time approaches, you can start the rice. You dump a can of Lite Coconut Milk into a pot with 1.5 cups of rinsed short-grain rice and a quarter cup of water and a pinch of salt, then cook as you would normally cook rice...
Meanwhile, pull the chicken out of the marinade, brushing off any obvious bits of ginger or garlic, then strain the marinade and pour it into a big pot to start reducing while you grill the chicken. I decided to grill my limes, too, since I enjoy grilled lemons and figured it was worth a try...
And that's it on the prep... Put a mound of rice on the plate... top with sliced chicken, reduced marinade, and a grilled lime... pour yourself a glass of nice dark rum on the rocks, sit back, and enjoy...
It took a few rounds of tweaking (from some recipe for Pineapple-Ginger Pork that I found via much googling in 1999 and would be hard-pressed to find again), but when it was just right it quickly became one of my favorite summer dinners. (When entertaining, you can serve it with my go-to recipe for Coconut Shrimp, which I tracked down just now by googling the entire ingredient list... So. Good.) Things start off with the marinade combining a 6-cup can of pineapple juice with 2 tablespoons of mustard power and (nominally) 9 tablespoons each of soy sauce, garlic, and ginger.
I tend to use "mounded tablespoons" when it comes to the ginger... such that 9 Emily-tablespoons is about one regular-person cup...
The garlic in my original version is 9 tablespoons of jarred minced garlic. (I know, I know... but I was in college... We all start somewhere.) When I was making the marinade this time, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a jar of that stuff, so I used fresh garlic and used a bit less (probably around 4-5 tablespoons). If you use the jarred stuff, though, (which is really perfectly OK in this marinade) then I would use 9 tablespoons...
So, that's the marinade. It's a big batch, but you'll reduce it later to make a delicious sauce, so it's good to have a lot. However many chicken breasts you want (usually around 6) are butterflied and tossed into the marinade overnight. When dinner time approaches, you can start the rice. You dump a can of Lite Coconut Milk into a pot with 1.5 cups of rinsed short-grain rice and a quarter cup of water and a pinch of salt, then cook as you would normally cook rice...
Meanwhile, pull the chicken out of the marinade, brushing off any obvious bits of ginger or garlic, then strain the marinade and pour it into a big pot to start reducing while you grill the chicken. I decided to grill my limes, too, since I enjoy grilled lemons and figured it was worth a try...
And that's it on the prep... Put a mound of rice on the plate... top with sliced chicken, reduced marinade, and a grilled lime... pour yourself a glass of nice dark rum on the rocks, sit back, and enjoy...
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