Recipe

Ingredients

Preparation time 30-40 minutes, plus marinating
Cooking time 10-40 minutes
12 cm (5 inch) lemon grass stalk finely sliced.
5 cm (2 inch) piece of fresh galangal, peeled, finely chopped.
4 garlic cloves, crushed.
4 shallots finely chopped.
4 coriander roots and stalks finely chopped.
1.5 kg (3 lb) chicken, spatchcocked, or a mixture of chicken breasts, thighs, and legs, cleaned and dried 150 ml ¼ pint) thick Kin Dee Coconut milk.
1½ tablespoons Kin Dee Fish sauce
1 teaspoon ground pepper lime wedges, to serve chive flowers, to garnish.
Instructions:
Pound the lemon grass, galangal, garlic, shallots and coriander in a pestle and mortar or use a food processor to blend it to a paste. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and pepper and mix until well blended. Pour this coconut marinade over the chicken, cover and leave to marinate for at least 3 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Turn the chicken occasionally.
Remove the chicken from the marinade, place it on a hot barbecue and cook for 30-40 minutes for spatchcocked chicken and 10-15 minutes for chicken pieces, turning and basting regularly with the remaining marinade. The whole chicken is cooked when a skewer inserted in one of the legs reveals clear juices. Leave the chicken to stand for 5 minutes, then chop it into small pieces.
Serve with Sweet Chili Sauce (see page 36), white Sticky Rice (see page 220) and lime wedges. Garnish with chive flowers and eat with fingers.
chive flowers and eat with fingers. For southern spicy Thai barbecued chicken, add 3 fresh or 3-4 long red chilies (about 12 cm/5 inches long) and 2 teaspoons ground turmeric. Soak the dried chilies in boiling water for 4-5 minutes or until soft, then drain. Pound or blend them and the ground turmeric with the rest of the ingredients.
Marinate and grill as above and serve with sticky rice and lime wedges.