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Coconut Chicken

A skillet dish of chicken breast tenders cooked in coconut milk with spices, nuts, and tamarind sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Coconut Chicken

serves 2
Time5 minutes per side

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the chicken

  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium‑high heat.

  2. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes per side, or until browned and no longer pink in the center.

  3. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat the broth in the same skillet.

  2. Add the onion, garlic, cilantro, ginger, lemon peel, cumin, and turmeric; cook for 5 minutes (or until the onion is tender but not browned).

  3. Stir in the coconut milk, nuts, sugar substitute, and red pepper.

  4. Return the chicken to the skillet, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes (or until the chicken is cooked through).

  5. Remove the chicken to a plate and keep warm.

  6. Do not discard the sauce in the pan.

  7. In a small bowl, combine the tamarind paste and water.

  8. Stir into the sauce in the skillet and gently boil until thickened and the mixture measures about ½ cup.

Serve

  1. Evenly divide the chicken among 2 serving plates.

  2. Top with sauce and garnish with the scallion.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

753Calories
37 gProtein
45 gFat
54 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 16 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Coconut1/2 cup shredded (40g)283
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Sugar Substitute1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Macadamia Nutnot in our table0
Tamarindnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Ginger + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken breast tenders
Provides the main protein, which browns on the outside and cooks through in the simmered sauce.
Light coconut milk
Supplies the creamy liquid base that becomes the sauce.
Macadamia nuts
Finely ground nuts add body and richness, thickening the sauce slightly.
Tamarind paste
Adds sour acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the coconut milk.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, forming the aromatic base of the sauce.

The step that matters

Reducing the tamarind sauce. Boiling gently until the sauce reduces to about half a cup concentrates flavour and thickens it. Boiling too hard can cause the coconut milk to separate and turn grainy, so keep it at a gentle simmer.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, chicken, onion, clove, garlic, ginger, cumin):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, chicken, onion, clove, garlic, ginger, cumin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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