Thai Grilled Chicken With Lemongrass And Ginger Food

THAI GRILLED CHICKEN (GAI YANG)

Steps:

• Add the lemongrass, cilantro (coriander), shallots, and garlic to a mortar and pestle, and pound until pulverized. You can also use a food processor for this step.
• Add the oil, sugar, salt, black pepper, Thai soy sauces, fish sauce and turmeric (if using). Mix until well-combined.
• You can butterfly or spatchcock your chicken for grilling like it's done on the streets of Thailand. However, I cut the chicken into individual pieces to ensure they'd cook properly. This way, I can pull each piece off the grill once cooked. Rub the chicken with the marinade paste, ensuring every piece is thoroughly coated. Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinate overnight (or at least 12 hours).
• The next day, take the chicken out 1 to 2 hours before you're ready to grill.
• In a small bowl, mix the sugar and hot water until the sugar is dissolved. Mix in the rest of the sauce ingredients and set aside.
• Place the chicken on the grill, and use any remaining marinade to baste the chicken while grilling. Leave the marinade paste on the chicken, including any chunks of herbs as they will caramelize and add flavor. Turn and baste the chicken often to create a nice flavorful outer crust. Baste the chicken with the leftover marinade in the first half of the grilling process, but do not do this towards the end of cooking. The raw chicken marinade needs enough time to fully cook.
• Serve immediately with some coconut rice, your nam jim jeaw sauce, and lime wedges!

VIETNAMESE GRILLED LEMONGRASS CHICKEN

Steps:

• Mix canola oil, lemongrass, lemon juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and fish sauce together in a mixing bowl until the sugar is dissolved; add chicken and turn to coat in the marinade.
• Marinate chicken in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to 1 hour.
• Preheat grill for medium heat and lightly oil the grate.
• Remove chicken thighs from the marinade and shake to remove excess marinade. Discard the remaining marinade.
• Grill chicken until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, 3 to 5 minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

THAI STYLE FRIED CHICKEN WITH LEMONGRASS SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat the oil to 325 degrees F.
• Combine the sweet chili, lemongrass, fish sauce, garlic, ginger and garlic chives in a pot and warm over medium-low heat. Mix together 2 cups of the flour, the salt, dark chili powder, garlic powder and paprika in a large bowl. Beat the eggs with the milk in another bowl, incorporating the other 2 cups of flour a little at a time, constantly whisking until the batter is twice as thick as the milk.
• Dredge the chicken thighs in the seasoned flour mixture, then dip in the flour-egg mixture, and toss into the rice flour to finish. Fry the chicken, in batches if needed, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Toss in the warm lemongrass sauce and serve.

CHICKEN WITH COCONUT MILK, LEMONGRASS, AND GINGER

Steps:

• 1. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and chiles and lower the heat. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are golden brown and well caramelized.
• 2. Stir in the ginger and lemongrass and saute for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and stir to combine. Stir in the black cumin and turmeric. When the spices are well incorporated, stir in the coconut milk and the half-and half. Add salt and remove from the heat.
• 3. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• 4. Place the chicken in a Dutch oven or another large heavy ovenproof casserole. Pour the coconut mixture over the top of the chicken. Cover and bake for about 1 hour, or until the chicken is very tender.
• 5. Serve, family style, with basmati rice, a green salad, and warm Indian breads.
• Note: In India, the chiles would be left in the finished dish, but if you are concerned about them being eaten, remove them before serving.
• Wine suggestions: Qupe Syrah Louis M. Martini Red Zinfandel

AUTHENTIC THAI GRILLED CHICKEN RECIPE (GAI YANG ไก่ย่าง)

Steps:

• For this recipe, I'm going to cook 2 full chickens, together weighing in at 3.6 kilos. If you wanted, you could also make this recipe with 3 - 4 kilos of chicken pieces, or really, however much chicken you want.
• For this gai yang (ไก่ย่าง) to be at its finest, it's best to marinate the chicken overnight and grill it the next day, but if you don't have the time, marinate the chicken for at least a few hours.
• Peel about 4 bulbs of garlic, which should be about 30 - 40 cloves in all.
• Thinly slice 2 stalks of lemongrass and cut off the roots of 8 stalks of coriander.
• Now comes the hard part, pounding everything using a mortar and pestle (If you don't have a mortar and pestle you can blend the ingredients in a food processor (but I'd really recommend you invest in a Thai style mortar and pestle).
• Add small amounts of garlic, lemongrass, black peppercorns, and coriander roots to the mortar and pestle and pound them until the oils come out, and you have a coarse paste. Keep pounding until all the marinade ingredients are finished. You'll probably need to load the mortar a few times.
• Put all the pounded marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir them up, and add 4 tablespoons of light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, and 2 tablespoons of palm sugar. Mix everything together while adding about 8 tablespoons of water to the mixture. You should end up with a potent marinade that looks like a chunky garlicky sauce.
• If you're using whole chickens, you'll want to butterfly cut them starting from the breast side down to the butt. Flatten the chickens out. This is going to prepare it for the grill (Watch the video to see how to do it).
• In a big pan or mixing bowl start to rub the marinade on the chicken, making sure the garlic, herbs, and soy sauce go into all parts of the chicken. Rub down both chickens using all the marinade.
• Cover the chickens and allow them to rest overnight. You might stir them a couple of times if you remember.
• The next day, take out your chicken, and the first step is to light your charcoal. You want a low even heat, coals that aren't too hot, but a low and even.
• Put the chicken on the grill and begin cooking!
• Wait about 20 minutes or so (but monitoring them to make sure they don't burn), before making your first flip. You can baste the chicken with the extra marinade.
• Cook the chicken on low heat for about 1.5 hours, until the chicken is cooked through to the bone and the skin is golden dark brown on the outside.
• Take the chicken off the grill, and dismantle the bamboo supports.
• If you have a Chinese cleaver, first cut the chicken in half from the neck to the butt, and from there cut off the drumstick, wing, and chop the rest of the chicken into strips.
• Semi-dried tamarind pulp can usually be bought at the supermarket in a small block. To rehydrate it, get a couple tablespoons of hot water and start to work the tamarind into the hot water. This should turn it into a nice tamarind water sauce.
• In a bowl, mix 1.5 tablespoons of khao kua (toasted sticky rice, recipe here), 1.5 tablespoons of chili flakes, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 8 tablespoons of tamarind juice.
• Mix all of the ingredients together.
• After mixing up the sauce, make sure you taste test. You're looking for the perfect sweet, sour, and salty combination. You might need to add more tamarind juice, more sugar, or more fish sauce to balance it out.
• Top off your gai yang sauce with some chopped up cilantro.
• Happy eating!

MARINADE: GRILLED CHICKEN WITH LEMONGRASS & CHILLI

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
• To prepare the chicken, cut it 7 cm by 7 cms and cut several small incisions across the chicken to soak up the marinade.
• Combine marinade and meat (or vegetables) then toss.
• You can either place it in a zip lock bag or just use a bowl with cling wrap.
• Refrigerate for about 2 hours, turning occasionally. (I marinated mine overnight).
• Remove meat from the marinade and grill until cooked and brown. Discard leftover marinade (if there are any of the ingredients left on the meat or vegetables as it may taste bitter if you decide to leave them on).
• Traditionally it's grilled on an outdoor grill so that the coals are white-hot but I used our barbeque.
• Serve on a bed of lettuce with Vietnamese fish sauce to dip. Side dish of rice or salad.