recipe // thai bbq sauce

A little sneek peek to keep you reading :)

When I was in college, I spent the second half of my junior year studying abroad in Thailand. I chose Thailand for a number of reasons, but one of them was the food (also among them was "when ELSE will I have the opportunity to go there??!"). I love Thai food and could eat it every day; studying abroad there gave me the chance to do just that for a few months ;).
Of course there were many more meaningful reasons to choose Thailand, but for the purposes of this blog post, I'm sticking to food.

;)

My sweet host family at my graduation from the program, Spring 2009

When I was there, one of my host family's favorite things to do was find new things for me to try. Um, okay! They let me help out in the kitchen making meals too, which was pretty cool. After four months, I'd tried some really amazing foods. Some were delicious, some were more... adventurous.

a typical lunchtime salad at the university canteen // Stir fried vegetables and mango with sticky rice

Village food, all cooked in a banana leaf or bamboo pole // Locusts, which were horrifying but tasted like roasted pumpkin seeds

Before I left the country, I had my host family help me pick out the most authentic Thai cookbook to take back to the states with me. They picked well; I have tested it quite thoroughly :)

 

The food at most Thai restaurants and in most cookbooks originates from the southern parts of the country (Bangkok Thai), and the food I'd been eating was very much Northern Thai. While the majority of the recipes aren't exactly like what I had while I was in Thailand, they are dang close. It just takes a little tweaking for a recipe to transport me right back to the street markets.  This book got me through my Thailand withdrawals, that's for SURE.

I prepared dinner on Mother's day for my family and grandparents, right after I got back from Thailand!

My ABSOLUTE favorite food while I was there was the BBQ pork skewers you could pick up for about 30 cents at any street market. I was craving them the other day (Jordan & Elisse's honeymoon instagrams from Thailand are to blame for that!), so I pulled out the book. I was not disappointed.

Oh hello there time-traveling :)

I didn't have any pork, but the beauty of this marinade is that it plays well with really any meat (although I would definitely say that the pork is my favorite!). It's not quite the same flavor as the stuff the street vendors sell, but it's the closest I've tasted since being there. And that is something to celebrate.

 Ingredients: 
1 lb meat of choice, cut into ~1" strips (I used chicken, but any kind will do. Pork is the tastiest!)
Marinade:
1/4 c honey
3T ketchup
2T soy sauce
2t minced garlic
1/4t ginger
1/2t pepper (white pepper is best, but I used what I had)
pinch salt 
Wooden skewers (soaked in water at least an hour)
To serve: 
red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, and/or minced green onion

Step 1. Pour all marinade ingredients into a Tupperware container or bowl.  
 

mmmmm. Yummy!

 Mix marinade ingredients well with a spoon or basting brush.

Please excuse the upside-down image. You get the point.

Add chicken pieces, stirring well to coat each piece of meat well. I like to cover the container and give it a good shake! Refrigerate, covered, for at least an hour (the longer the better).

 

Step 2. Once at least an hour has passed and you are ready to cook, begin threading your meat onto presoaked wooden skewers. Try to keep them threaded as flat as possible so they will cook evenly.

 
Step 3. Grill the skewers on a foil-lined grill (for easier cleanup!) for 3 minutes or so on each side until thoroughly cooked. Keep obsessively brushing the meat with the marinade as it cooks. Arrange on a plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds/red pepper flakes/green onion and serve!

 Give it a try and tell me what you think!