Classic Thai Bbq Grilled Chicken Recipe With Tangy Dipping Sauce

THAI GRILLED CHICKEN (GAI YANG)

Steps:

• Place Marinade ingredients in a large ziplock bag. Massage to mix.
• Add the chicken into the ziplock bag and massage to spread the marinade over all the chicken. Marinate for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably overnight (up to 24 hours).
• Remove chicken from the Marinade and discard the Marinade (unless baking in the oven - refer Note 3).
• Heat the outdoor grill on medium high. Or heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a non stick pan over medium high heat on the stove.
• Cook the chicken until golden brown - around 3 minutes each side.
• Rest for a few minutes before serving with lime wedges on the side, and garnished with fresh chilies and cilantro, if using.

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!

CHICKEN THAI BBQ/GRILLED CHICKEN

Steps:

• 1.Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl and stir well to dissolve the sugar.
• 2.Add chicken parts or thighs, turning several times to ensure the chicken is covered with marinade.
• 3.Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinate while you heat up the grill and prepare the dipping sauce. OR allow chicken to marinate overnight, or up to 24 hours.
• 4.To make the dipping sauce/glaze, place all the dipping sauce/glaze ingredients in a sauce pan. Stir and bring to a boil.
• 5.Reduce heat to medium-low. Allow sauce to simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken as it cooks and become tangy - a mixture of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy.
• 6.Tip: this sauce can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold, so you can easily make it ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator until needed.
• 7.Brush your grill with a little vegetable oil, then grill the chicken, turning occasionally. Brush the chicken with the leftover marinade for the first 10 minutes or so, then discard marinade.

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!

THAI-STYLE GRILLED CHICKEN W/ SPICY SWEET AND SOUR DIPPING SAUCE

Steps:

• To brine the chicken: Dissolve sugar and salt in 2 quarts cold water in large container or bowl; submerge chicken in brine and refrigerate at least 30 minutes but not longer than 1 hour. Rinse chicken under cool running water and pat dry with paper towels.
• For the dipping sauce: Whisk ingredients in small bowl until sugar dissolves. Let stand 1 hour at room temperature to allow flavors to meld.
• To make and apply the rub: Combine all rub ingredients in small bowl; work mixture with fingers to thoroughly combine. Slide fingers between skin and meat to loosen skin, taking care not to detach skin. Rub about 2 tablespoons mixture under skin. Thoroughly rub even layer of mixture onto all exterior surfaces, including bottom and sides. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces. Place chicken in medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate while preparing grill.
• To grill the chicken: Using chimney starter, ignite about 6 quarts (1 large chimney, or 2 1/2 pounds) charcoal briquettes and burn until covered with thin coating of light gray ash, about 15 minutes. Empty coals into grill; build two-level fire by arranging all coals in even layer in one half of grill. Position grill grate over coals, cover grill, and heat until grate is hot, about 5 minutes (grill should be medium-hot; you can hold your hand 5 inches above grill grate for 4 seconds); scrape grill grate clean with grill brush. Using long-handled grill tongs, dip wad of paper towels in vegetable oil and wipe grill grate. Place chicken, skin-side down, on hotter side of grill; cook until browned, about 3 minutes. Using tongs, flip chicken breasts and cook until browned on second side, about 3 minutes longer. Move chicken skin-side up to cool side of grill and cover with disposable aluminum roasting pan; continue to cook until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast (not touching bone) registers 160 degrees, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to platter; let rest 10 minutes. Serve, passing sauce separately.
• Taking Thai Chicken Indoors. If you don't have a grill, heat your oven to 450 degrees and adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position, as food tends to brown more deeply and evenly toward the bottom of the oven. Set the brined, rubbed chicken on a flat wire roasting rack and place the rack over a baking sheet lined with foil. Roast the chicken for 15 minutes, rotate the pan, and then cook for an additional 15 minutes. The skin should be light golden brown, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of each breast (not touching any bone) should register 160 degrees. To get the same deep brown exterior that the grill provides, finish the chicken with a quick shot under the broiler (2 to 3 minutes, with the chicken 6 to 8 inches from the broiler element). This pass under the broiler will help to crisp the skin, but the skin will probably not be quite as crisp as it is in the grilled version. The flavors, however, will be just as good.

THAI GRILLED CHICKEN WITH SWEET CHILE DIPPING SAUCE

Steps:

• In a shallow dish, mix together the coconut milk, fish sauce, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, cilantro, turmeric, curry powder, and white pepper. Add chicken, and turn to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat grill for high heat.
• In a saucepan, combine vinegar, water, sugar, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, bird's eye chile, and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer until liquid is reduced, about 5 minutes. Stir sauce from time to time. Remove from heat and allow to cool before use.
• Lightly oil grill grate. Discard marinade, and place chicken on the grill. Cook for 10 minutes per side, or until slightly charred and juices run clear. Brush with sauce before serving. Serve remaining sauce on the side for dipping.

BARBECUED THAI CHICKEN

Steps:

• Crush the peppercorns using a pestle and mortar, then add the garlic and crush again. Add the coriander stalks and chopped lemongrass, and bash to a rough paste. Stir in the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. Poke a metal skewer through the leg and breast on either side of the chicken (see our video on how to spatchcock a chicken), then replace with a lemongrass stalk. Sit the chicken in a dish and pour over the marinade - squelch it around so the bird is completely coated, then cover and chill in the fridge for as long as possible or overnight.
• Remove the chicken from the fridge an hour before cooking. Set a lidded barbecue up for indirect cooking with a foil drip tray on the coal-free side. When the coals are very hot, lay the chicken, bone-side down, over the coal-free side, with the legs closest to the coals.
• Cover with the lid and arrange the vents for maximum air circulation. Cook the chicken for 50 mins-1 hr until a thermometer reads 70C (or a little higher) when stuck into the thickest part of the thigh or the juices run clear. Poke the coals about so they flare up again, then, using a pair of tongs, carefully flip the chicken, so it's skin-side down over the coals. Cook until the skin has browned and the thermometer reads 75C. Lift onto a board, leave to rest for 10 mins, then remove the lemongrass and carve.