Vietnamese Five-Spice Chicken and Coconut-Mango Rice

(adapted from Williams-Sonoma's San Francisco: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World, and Fred Thompson's Grill Master: The Ultimate Arsenal of Back-to-Basics Recipes for the Grill)

OK, so I'm not even going to tell you the first time I made this. I'm that behind. I can't even remember. BUT! I've made it three times since that first attempt, because it is so, SO good. I mean, crazy-delicious, finger-licking good. I made it around Thanksgiving for the fam, and it was a hit - even my one-year old nephew was smacking his lips. It might just be my favorite grilled chicken recipe. And I've always been a fan of coconut rice.

I hadn't really heard of five-spice till we moved to the Bay Area. You can make your own, or you can buy it from the grocery store (win!). To me, the ingredients are surprising - star anise, cinnamon, cloves - sweet stuff - but in this recipe, you add fish sauce, which combines to make this sweet, salty, savory, marinade. Mmm.

So, here's what you need (this should be enough marinade for a whole chicken, but I use the same amount for five-six drumsticks...):
6 cloves garlic, halved
1 large shallot, quartered
1 tbsp peeled ginger
4 tsp sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/2 tsp five spice powder
Freshly ground pepper
5-6 chicken pieces - thighs or drumsticks

And here's what you do:
Combine the garlic, shallot, ginger, and sugar in a small food processor, and process to form a paste. Transfer to a bowl and whisk in the soy sauce, fish sauce, five spice powder, and a few grinds of black pepper. This is your marinade.

Rinse the chicken pieces in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place in a shallow dish, and pour in all the marinade. Turn the pieces in the marinade to coat, cover, and refrigerate for as long as possible, up to 8 hours (2 hours work in a pinch). You'll want to turn the chicken a few times. Keep the marinade.

Set up your grill!

Remove the chicken from the marinade (don't throw it out), grill the chicken, and baste it with a marinade a few times. Turn the chicken, baste again, grill until juices run clear. Don't baste the chicken in the final 10 minutes.

Done!

And for the rice (from Grill Master):
1 tbsp canola oil
1 large shallot, minced
1 tsp peeled, grated fresh ginger
2 cups jasmine rice (brown rice works, too)
1 cup coconut milk
Salt
1 (or 2) mango, cubed

In a large saucepan over medium-high, warm the oil. Add the shallot and ginger and saute for about 30 seconds. Add the rice and stir to coat and mix. Add 2 cups water, the coconut milk, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, simmer for about 20 minutes - just like you'd normally cook rice.

When done cooking, stir/fluff with a fork, then add the mango and stir that in, too. 

(Green beans - blanched, with olive oil, salt, pepper.)