saucy chicken and cabbage satay bowls
ok, this one is REALLY good
I made y’all do a decent amount of work with last week’s market plates (but it was worth it, right?!), so this week we are going super quick and dirty. I’m setting you up with an ultra-craveable recipe thanks to all of the umami-rich ingredients (soy sauce! fish sauce!) that also happens to be low carb, rich in fiber, and nutrient diverse. Oh, and we’re using a box of pre-sliced mushrooms and bagged coleslaw mix to get it all done in 30 minutes.
If you’re not familiar with satay, it’s a dish with Indonesian roots that consists of marinated meat (most often chicken) that’s skewered, grilled, and served with a peanut sauce for dipping. I’ve borrowed those flavors, added veggies, and used ground chicken to turn it into a quick weeknight sauté. This recipe has a long-ish ingredient list but most are pantry and spice-cabinet staples. It’s also very forgiving, so I urge you to flex those cooking muscles! Feel free to not measure a single thing — just eyeball it — and I promise you, this will still come out so delicious.
This recipe calls for 2/3 of a can of coconut milk. I know, I’m sorry, forgive me! I think leaving you with 1/3 of a can of unused coconut milk might be the most annoying thing I’ve ever done here (other than have you thinly slice and salt zucchini planks for our zucchini skillet lasagna — which, while delightful and worthwhile, decidedly does not fit I don’t feel like cooking standards). I tried to use the whole can, but I couldn’t make it work!
You can use up your leftover coconut milk by throwing it into a smoothie, using it in place of part of your water when cooking rice, or adding it to a soup to make it a little creamier. If you won’t use it within a week (it’ll stay good for up to 7 days in the fridge in an airtight container), freeze it in a ziplock bag or jar so that it doesn’t go bad sitting in the back of your fridge! It’s worth it, I promise… or you can omit the coconut entirely — it’ll still be really delicious without it.
If you want to try another spin on this meal (one that requires fewer ingredients!), omit the peanut butter and coconut milk — as well as the curry powder and cumin since they support those flavors — and you’ll have an absolutely delicious stir fry on your hands. That would also yield a lighter/lower-calorie meal for anyone who may want one!
We want to see how your chicken satay bowls turn out! has started a thread in the What to Cook chat — reply to it with a picture of your finished-product meal this week and you’ll be entered to win a gift subscription to WTC to share with a friend. While you’re sharing, tell us any notes or subs you used! The winner will be announced in next Saturday’s email.
What to Cooker Emily had the brilliant idea to add a “loved this? try that!” component to these emails. So! If you cook and love this recipe, we know you’ll also enjoy beef basil bowls with coconut rice (pictured above, left) and one-pot thai-style rice, pork & green beans (right). You’d also love peanutty pork & brussels on page 39 in What to Cook the cookbook — I actually didn’t even think about it until after I’d written today’s recipe, but it definitely has similar saucy-peanutty-veg-and-meat-stir-fry vibes!
Serves 2-3 if served on its own, or 4 if served with rice
Cook time: ~30 minutes
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to What To Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.