I need to make a sharp lime sauce for chicken

[steampunk]

Hi

I'm new here but it looks like an excellent forum

I've been playing around with a recipe for a mexican-ish style chicken thing using diced fried chicken, diced grapes, cumin, garlic, coriander leaves etc but it's a bit dry and needs a sauce to cut through with sharpness - so i thought lime would be good

I've had a look on the web but i've only really seen sauces based on yoghurt and even mayonnaise

whereas my ideal sauce would be transparent (and maybe even slightly acid green) with perhaps some fine strips of lime peel, quite acidic but a little bit sweet at the same time and maybe even a drop of alcohol - something like sherry maybe but i don't know

has anyone seen a recipe like this - or an idea of a recipe that i can adapt ?

thanks for your help

 

[GrillingFool]

Heck fire, start mixing!

Go with some lime juice, some zest, a little honey, bit of tequila..
Mix it up and taste.
Dig around the spice rack and add what's needed.....

Great fun!

Then post the tasty recipe here!

And welcome to the neighborhood... some better minds will come along and
help out soon, LOL

 

[kitchenelf]

Well, to make it more moist I would use oil mixed with your same spices/herbs i.e., canola, lime, cilantro, salt, pepper, etc. I wouldn't necessarily make a vinaigrette but just a flavored oil. Use light olive oil or canola as neither of those will just be the carrier for your other flavors and add no other flavor to your dish.

I take it you are referring to a cold chicken salad here? You might want to try mango versus grapes for another take on it.

My other suggestion would be just to break down and make an aioli with all the above flavors in it.

 

[steampunk]

thanks for your replies

- the idea of honey and tequila sounds very interesting - a fairly light honey like acacia maybe, mmm

Kitchenelf - in fact it's not a cold dish, i forgot to say - the idea is to prepare the chicken mixture and then use it to fill samosas which will then be fried til crispy - the acid and sweet sauce would then give the whole thing some zing
your idea of replacing the grapes with mangoes is good - especially as there are no grapes to be had at this time of year (i first got the idea last autumn)

that's given me something to think about - thanks

 

[kitchenelf]

I was afraid you were going to say it was not a cold chicken salad dish

OK - here's another idea then-since it's going to be in the form of a samosa. Can you serve WITH it a mango salsa? If that is not an option then I might be tempted to make a mango salsa and just add it to the mixture.

especially as there are no grapes to be had

Does Burgundy know this?

 

[Jeekinz]

How about a lime beure blanc? I made a lemon flavored one not too long ago for some crab cakes. Add some zest for more lime flavor.

Beurre blanc

You can play with herbs and flavorings.

 

[steampunk]

that sounds interesting too - i have a couple of questions, though :

when it says

Remove from heat and add one chunk of butter, stirring with a whisk to blend. Slowly add all the pieces of butter until well combined. This technique is called monter au beurre, to finish, or "mount" a sauce with butter. If you need to return the sauce to the heat to incorporate all the butter, do it over very low heat, or the sauce will break

how do you know if the sauce has broken ? what does it look like ?

and where it says

, or hold in a double boiled over barely simmering water

what does that mean exactly ?

 

[Jeekinz]

OK. The first part of the sauce is easy. When it comes time for the butter, make sure it's cold and cut into tablespoon sized pieces. Don't let it sit on the counter while you make the rest of the sauce.

Adding the butter: Turn off the stove, the residual heat in the pan will make the sauce. Add one tablespoon of butter at a time. Use the tip of a whisk to move it around the pan to melt into the other ingredients. Do each piece of butter the same way. If you find the pan is getting a little too cool. Turn the burner back on medium for like 30 seconds then turn it off. You really need to keep the sauce moving while adding the butter so don't be answering any phone calls or anything. This sauce does not reheat well at all, so make sure EVERYTHING else is completely finished and ready to assemble the final dish.

If you keep the heat on the pan while adding the butter, the butter will not blend with the other liquids and you'll have a nasty mess of clarified butter and oil and junk.

Play with it. Like it says, the shallot isn't necessary. I've used red onion, white onion, lime, lemon, all kinds of different herbs.

 

[steampunk]

you'll have a nasty mess of clarified butter and oil and junk.

i have taken note of those words of wisdom and i will unplug the phone

thanks to all - i'm off to do some tinkering

 

[Jeekinz]

I'm very interested in your findings and recipe. Hope you share.

 

[Bilby]

I would suggest that you look up a recipe for an Asian lemon dipping sauce and just substitute the lime for the lemon. You may need to adjust the seasoning for the new flavour. Also adjust the thickness to the consistency you like.

Or - Pan-fried salmon with warm chilli lime sauce - Recipe - Taste.com.au

And, welcome to DC!!

 

[steampunk]

ok - no problem

 

[steampunk]

oops i hadn't noticed the post from Bilby - thanks for those ideas !