PCAT - Chicken Skewers

My husband loves barbecue a lot. In fact, he would never turn down any offer to eat this type of food no matter what. But this is not to say that he doesn't have a discriminating taste when it comes to one of his favorite foods because he does recognize a good barbecue from a not-so-good one.

For my first recipe in Project Cook and Tell (PCAT), I would like to share with you my version of Chicken Skewers. I got the idea for the marinade in a cookbook called "America's Favorite Brand Name Light Cooking". The original recipe calls for specific branded products but since I don't really go for expensive branded stuff when you can have a cheaper product that can do as well, I decided to do some substitutions and alterations. This resulted in a recipe which uses more generic and common ingredients.

Here is the list of what you will need:

• 3 lb (1.4 kg) skinless and boneless chicken breasts
• 1 can 8-oz (227 g) tomato sauce
• 1/8 cup water
• 1/8 cup dark soy sauce
• 3/8 cup worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup sugar (see notes below on which type of sugar you could use)
• 1/8 cup chopped onions (fresh or dried)
• 3 Tbsp. cider vinegar
• ground black pepper
• cayenne pepper (optional)
• dried oregano
• dried basil
• garlic powder
• Italian seasoning

This is how to prepare it:

1. Cut chicken breasts into pieces, approximately 1.5 inches by 1 inch. Remove fat if you like. Set aside in a bowl for marinating.
2. In a small skillet or saucepan, combine all the other ingredients and stir to remove the lumps. The amount of spices you would put in depends on your taste. In my case, I usually put 1 to 2 tablespoonfuls of each type of spice except for the cayenne pepper which would be too potent if you put more than a dash or two.
3. Bring the sauce into a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Let the marinade sit for a while to cool. Then, pour over chicken pieces. Make sure that the marinade covers the chicken pieces well.
5. Put the bowl in the refirigerator and let it stand for at least 24 hours.
6. Skewer the chicken and grill it.

Special Notes:

• If you are using frozen chicken, make sure that you thaw it well. This will minimize the amount of water that the chicken pieces will give off while it is marinating and the marinade will not be diluted.
• You can use either refined (white) sugar or brown sugar. Brown sugar caramelizes well and will give a nice burnt color to the chicken skewers when cooked. White sugar doesn't caramelize as much. The taste doesn't vary as much when you use either one.
• If you don't have cider vinegar, you may also use 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar. I haven't tried this recipe with other types of vinegar aside from the two that I have mentioned. But feel free to experiment.
• I usually marinate the chicken for 3 to 4 days but 24 hours will suffice.

My husband absolutely enjoys this dish and I hope you would too.