food comas

As an accompaniment to our Papaya Salad, we decided to round out our traditional Thai dinner with a Thai-style marinated barbeque chicken.  We served this with store bought Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, although you can try making your own with this recipe.  The only thing missing was some steamed sticky rice, but think that shall be the next project… preferably sweet and sticky coconut rice, which would be a great way to use up the remaining coconut milk from this recipe.

This chicken is best grilled over medium hot charcoals, although I have also tried grilling it on my George Foreman grill… and it sort of worked…  with a little assistance of oven roasting because it just was taking way too long and I was hungry!  I also served this with some Grilled Tomatoes with Mozzarella.  Not exactly with the Thai theme… but I just was craving it!

Thai Barbeque Chicken (from the Temple of Thai)

Yields: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 T finely chopped cilantro roots (or substitute with bottom stems)
• 8 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 tsp white ground pepper (I just used regular black peppercorns)
• 1 T ground coriander
• 2 tsp yellow curry powder
• 3 T fish sauce
• 1-2 tsp sugar
• 1 large roasting chicken, cut into smaller sections or half a dozen leg-thigh pieces (I used wings and drumsticks)
• 1/2 C coconut milk for basting chicken while grilling

Directions:

Using a heavy mortar and pestle, pound cilantro roots, garlic and shallots to a paste.  Add the freshly ground white pepper, coriander and curry powder.  Stir and pound to blend the dry and wet ingredients.  Add the fish sauce and sugar.  Stir well to dissolve the sugar.

Trim off excess fat around the edges of chicken pieces, leaving the skin on.  Rub paste onto the surface of the chicken and under the skin.  Place in a plastic resealable bag and let the chicken marinate for two hours or up to overnight in the refrigerator.

Grill over medium-hot charcoals (preferably mesquite or other wood coals).  Turn frequently to prevent charring and burning.

Add about 1/2 cup coconut milk to the bowl with the remaining marinate.  Stir to mix and use this coconut milk mixture to baste pieces after each turning.  Grill until cooked through.

Serve with a sweet and tangy dipping sauce, such as a Thai Sweet Chili Sauce.