Indonesian Chicken

Several of my friends specifically asked me to share this recipe.  We had it last Thursday for supper.  I didn't get to eat any of it because I was sick in the bed.  Nor did I get to take any pictures.  I was told that it was quite tasty however! Even Jer like it, which is saying a lot.  They did say, though, that the sauce is better on the chicken than it is on the rice. I'll let you be the judge...

Crockpot Chicken Indonesian

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 TB soy sauce
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger-root, minced
3 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 c peanut butter

Place chicken in the crockpot.  Combine remaining ingredients (EXCEPT peanut butter) in a small bowl.  Whisk and pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours.  Watch carefully as sometimes boneless chicken has a tendency to cook too quickly and dry out.  If you use bone-in chicken, you will need to cook it a little longer.  When chicken is done, remove from the crockpot and keep warm.  Pour juices into a small pot and heat to boiling.  Remove from heat and add peanut butter, stir until smooth.  Serve sauce with chicken.

I serve it with brown rice, or you could try spaghetti noodles.

Here's a little garlic tip:  I hate chopping garlic as it makes my hands smell garlicky all night (and most of the next day as well).  I love to eat garlic though.  I used to buy the little jars of minced garlic, but there's something weird about that.  Plus fresh garlic is more healthy.  Now I buy garlic in bulk and chop it in the food processor, and store it in one of the left over garlic jars.  Three or four heads of garlic will fill up one of those little jars.

Here's how I do it:  break the garlic bulbs into individual cloves.  Place them all in a bowl.  Cover with another similar sized bowl and then shake like mad.  This will make the garlic skin just fall off.  You can then just pick out all the peeled cloves and put them in the food processor.  You may have to repeat the process a couple of times to get them all peeled.  I then just turn on the food processor and let it go.  I stop it every once in a while to scrape the sides down.  I add a little olive oil to it as well.  You can chop it to your desired consistency.  It's never really lasted more than two weeks around here, so I can't give you any definite idea of a shelf life. A teaspoon of this is about equal to 1 clove of garlic.  Now you can enjoy fresh garlic without constantly smelling like it!

~Linda