satay chicken butter masala kebobs?

Taking a cue from my lovely friend Anne Kennedy, I tried a new dish last night.

Whenever I make anything at home, the towering question is: Will Augustine like it?

It goes without saying that the answer is "no." My middle child HATES all food that isn't already on his Tested and Approved Dishes (Preferrably Made by Mama) List, which contains about four items. So trying to get him to eat anything new always ends up making me feel like the White Witch forcing her reindeer driven sledge onward through deep mud.

Which is why I changed Anne's fish dish to a chicken dish, because, while nothing that ever even so much as glanced at the ocean is on The List, at least a dish using chicken is. Although it's a different recipe, so Augustine doesn't recognize any shared similarities. He is a Nominalist.

But the dish was not too hard to make and kind of fun:

Kebobs:
cheap chicken, preferably Celesium-free, cut into 1-inch or so pieces
an onion, halved and quartered
red pepper, cut into 1-inch or so pieces
cherry tomatoes
new potatoes (cut to size and microwaved on high for 4 min)
Krazy Salt, black pepper, garlic powder, curry powder, as desired

Imagining you're a swashbuckling ship's captain under attack by hoarde of scurvy-dog pirates, run the wooden skewers (which I forgot to soak in water beforehand) through the above foods in whatever combination you like.

But avoid putting the cherry toms at the very tip because they'll slide off when cooked, especially if you're still swordfighting. Although I have to say, the squishy plop of a well-broiled cherry tomato onto the floor does add a touch of grotesque realism to the shipboard battle scenario.

Line up loaded skewers on a baking rack (on top of a foil lined tray for easy cleanup!). Drizzle olive oil over each kebob, and sprinkle with Krazy Salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and curry powder, as desired.

Broil on high heat for about 10 minutes, then remove the tray and cover your fingertips with microburns as you flip each kebob over. Sprinkle again with just a wee bit of Krazy Salt. Broil again on high heat until you see a distressingly large quantity of black smoke pouring out of the cracks around the oven door. (You might wish to disable the smoke detector for a short while.)

Sauce:
one can of cut tomatoes
one can of coconut milk
2 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter (okay, 3. Plus a little more)
"the juice of a juicy lemon," which means about 5-6 seconds of upending a bottle of lemon juice
1-2 tsp curry powder
2-3 tsp sugar, brown or otherwise

While the kebobs are broiling, dump all the above ingredients into a pan and bring to a boil. Then smooth out the mixture with an immersion blender (=hand-held puree thingy). Except that I used kind of a big pan, which meant the sauce was a little on the shallow side, and as soon as I fired up the immersion blender sauce started spewing all over the place. Very Jackson Pollock. Use either a small or a very, very deep pan.

I served with steamed (okay, microwaved) broccoli (on The List) and rice (also on The List, and, well, because we live in Japan), as well as a big plate of raw cucumber sticks served with a side of mayonnaise and Thai sweet chilli sauce.

The result? Augustine ate the kebobs, never even considered touching the sauce, and went nuts on the cucumber and chilli mayo, even though it's spicy.

Everybody else liked it all. It might even work with fish.