Moving to London is a big deal. It is, culturally and perhaps physically as far from Asia and the US as you can be at any one moment, meaning it’s definitely not somewhere you consider home. And yet, you just get on with it and get it done. And here you are. Like a fish and chips to water. Living large like a local in another of the world’s great cities.
Being physically far from Asia and the US, it also means we are a world away from cheap and widely available Asia food. Nom Nom Dumplings on a Wednesday in Wanchai has effectively been replaced by malt loaf on a wet Tuesday in Elephant and Castle. So as well as locating our apartment as physically close as possible to at least three Asian supermarkets, part of making you feel more at home here has been us cooking up some simple but satisfying home meals. The things we would cook anywhere we call home and that suit both our palates.
Roast chicken has always felt pretty homey to us, whether one of those rotisserie birds in HK that we’d tear up and eat like savages, or a home cooked chook (…which, in the interests of balance, we’d also tear up and eat like savages).
The recipe for this Thai style roast chicken isn’t our own, but it is now a regular crowd pleaser. It’s as good for a casual Sunday dinner for two as it is for entertaining a bunch of friends. It’s also tasty AF and a bit Asian, which is a pretty decent description of what home is for both of us, wherever in the world we might be.
A&A’s Thai Roast Chicken
SHOPPING LIST
Whole chicken (preferably cornfed, and preferably from Oli’s on Walworth Road)
Lime
Shallot
Coriander
Lemongrass (hopefully in the freezer pre-chopped at home!)
Fish sauce
Tamarind
Light and dark soy
White pepper
Birds eye chilli (or sub for chilli flakes)
Roasted rice powder
Tamarind
Palm sugar
Garlic
HOW TO MAKE
Makes enough for 1 roast chicken (about 3 people per bird)
Thai Roast Chicken
For the chicken marinade, combine 1 tablespoon of chopped/minced lemongrass, a tablespoon of chopped coriander, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of ground white pepper, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of palm sugar (or honey). Mix well.
Prepare the chickens by spatchcocking (cutting out the back with kitchen scissors and then pushing down in a pan to lie flat) and trimming excess fat from the carcass.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper all over. Then spoon over half the marinade and rub into the flesh and skin. Leave the chicken for as long as you can (ideally 2-3 hours), as the salt and marinade will help brine the chicken slightly. Reserve the rest of the marinade for basting while cooking.
To cook the chicken, bring it to room temperature (by leaving out covered for an hour before cooking). Then add two cups of water to the roasting pan and orientate the chicken skin side up. The water is there to create the sauce and stop it during out.
Cook the chicken on a high heat (220 Celsius) for 30 minutes. Then take it out and baste it with the pan juices and some extra marinade. For the last 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 200 Celsius and take the chicken out every 5/10 mins and baste all over with the pan juices and extra marinade. If the pan juices are drying up, add a little water to the pan. 45-50 minutes should be enough to cook a medium size chicken.
After cooking, remove the chicken and leave to rest for about 20 minutes and up to 30 minutes.
Carve the chicken as desired and serve while warm with rice and the marinade from the pan (which should be dark, reduced and almost sticky) on the side.
Nahm Jim Jaew Dipping Sauce
Finely chop 1 shallot, 1 birds eye chilli (or a teaspoon of chilli flakes) and a handful of coriander. Add to a bowl, along with: 1 teaspoon of palm sugar, juice of half a lime, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of roasted (ideally glutinous) rice powder and 2 tablespoons of tamarind water. To make the tamarind water, dissolve tablespoon of dried/wet tamarind in a little boiling water. Mix and taste. Add more of any ingredients (usually lime juice and fish sauce) as desired to taste. The final sauce should be sweet, sour, spicy and quite thick with the rice powder, shallot and coriander.