Clem's Gai Yang
 Thai Grilled Chicken
 

 

In the Thai language, gai means chicken and yang means grilled. Grilled chicken can be found everywhere in Thailand particularly in the north from where this form of preparing and eating chicken (and other meats) came from.

It is relatively easy to make this dish at home either on a BBQ, a grill or oven. The first step as in cuisines from other cultures,  is to marinade after which the grilling takes place:


INGREDIENTS
 

  • A whole chicken.
     
  • For the marinade:
     
    • Four bulbs of garlic,
    • Coriander roots from a bunch of fresh coriander.
      Failing to find any roots, just use fresh coriander.
    • 2 table spoons light soy sauce,
    • 1 table spoon dark soy sauce,
    • 1 table spoon fish sauce
    • 2 table spoons palm sugar
    • 2 stalks lemongrass
    • 2 table spoons black pepper.
    • 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
       
  • For the dipping sauce:
    • Chilli, fresh or dried flakes,
    • 1 table spoon palm sugar,
    • 3 table spoons fish sauce,
    • 6 - 8 table spoons of tamarind paste made into extract with water.

     

METHOD
 

Marinate the chicken

  • Spatchcock the chicken
    Cut the chicken along the breast bone from the front to the rear.
    Turn over the chicken and press down to flatten the chicken carcase.
     
  • Render all the marinade ingredients into a rough paste.
    Use a blender or a mortar and pestle.

    NOTE: I would leave the addition of palm sugar til about an hour before grilling.
    This is so that the growth of microorganisms is not encouraged by the availability of sugar as a carbon source during the hours of marination.
     
  • Baste the chicken with the marinade and leave overnight in a refrigerator or if in a hurry, for a couple of hours at least.
    Turn over the chicken a few times during marination.
    Add a couple tablespoons of cooking oil to the marinade and cover the chicken with oiled marinade just grilling.
     

Make the sauce

Mix together:

  • 1 tablespoon of chilli flakes (you make use fresh chilli if you like a spicier sauce),
  • 1 - 2 tablespoon of palm sugar,
  • 3 tablespoons of fish sauce,
  • 8 tablespoons of tamarind extract,
  • A sprig of fresh coriander roughly chopped up and added just before use.
  • Authentic sauce calls for the addition of some ground toasted rice powder (glutinous or otherwise) to add taste and body to the sauce.
    If you have time, make it (dry fry some rice grains and then grind it; or dry fry rice flour). Otherwise the sauce is just as good without it.
  • Adjust the runniness of the sauce by adding water if necessary.
    The sauce should be thick enough to nicely coat and stick onto chicken dipped into it.


 Grill the chicken

  • Grill the chicken spatchcock fashion (flattened), preferably on a BBQ.
    Use charcoal for the best tasting results. The use of wood chips in the BBQ adds a smokiness to the grilled chicken.
    If you do not wish to use a BBQ, then grill under an overhead-heating grill.
    If not then, roast in an oven.
    Conditions of cooking are as you please so as to end up with a roasted skin (caramelized, and no longer wet/soft to the touch), with moist meat under.

 


Clem's Gai Yang served with the classic Thai grilled chicken tamarind sauce
This was a 1.6 kg chicken

 

 

Enjoy!

09 May 2024

www.clemkuek.com
 

 

Created by Clem Kuek