It is 32°C right now in Bangkok. I am sitting in my living room picturing that beach club, the gentle wind blowing, the soft sound of waves crashing, that cocktail and that perfectly grilled chicken, succulent, flavoursome and giving me the tropical feels.
With that thought brimming through my head, I jumped off the couch, marched into the kitchen and leaped straight for the pineapples that I got off side of the road pickup trucks. Have you seen them? We have them in Thailand (especially now more than ever, because of all the exports on hold thanks to Covid-19). For those who don’t know, there are these pickup trucks parked on the side of a busy road, with their backs (cargo bed) open and filled with one particular kind of fruit. Some fruits commonly sold like this are pineapple, oranges, rambutan, durian, coconut and even strawberries. These are sold at extremely low-prices but are not behind in quality.
So I randomly mix a few ingredients I had on hand and created this subtly flavoured dish. For someone like me who is big on pungent flavours generally I would need a sauce to go with it (like a dip). But that was not required at all in this recipe.
For this you will need;
Ingredients:- (serves 2)
- 260gms Chicken Tenderloins
- 2 tbsp bbq brown sugar sauce (I’m using GrillMaster)
- salt & pepper, according to taste]
- 1 small ripe pineapple
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 tsp brown sugar
Method:-
- Using a sharp knife shave around the skin to remove the peel and the brown bits also called pineapple eye.
- Cut the pineapple into rounds or circles. Remove the core.
- Keep some (about 4-5) pineapple rounds aside.
- Juice the remaining pineapple rounds in a juicer. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add the tenderloins. Season with salt & black powder according to taste.
- Pour in the freshly pineapple juice.
- Add brown sugar bbq sauce.
- Mix to combine the ingredients.
- Let the chicken sit in the marinade covered in the refrigerator overnight if you have the time or for a minimum of an hour at least otherwise.
- Set a grill pan on medium-high heat. Once hot, spray some cooking oil over it.
- Place pineapple rounds onto the grill pan. Sprinkle some brown sugar on them.
- On the other side of the pan, place the chicken tenderloins. Grill until you have clear grill marks on the chicken skin.
- Flip sides and pour some of the marinade from the bowl over the top. Continue to grill until you have some marks on this side as well.
- Watch the pineapple closely, even though they do take some time to get those grill marks. Flip the pineapple once you have the marks to your liking, the sugar coat the other side and repeat the process.
- Remove all ingredients from the grill and place beautifully. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!