Gai Yang Chicken & Believing in Yourself

Hi everyone and welcome back to a brand new Nikoli's Kitchen! This week I'm giving a swing at something I've never done in the name of Gai Yang Chicken, which is Thai BBQ chicken typically spatchcocked and cooked over coals in the streets of Thailand. Also this week, I continue on last week's thoughts about celebrating all of the little wins in your life, and how to continue to believe in yourself even when you fail or are set back. Thank you so much for listening!

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Featured Recipe for this Episode

Gai Yang Marinade

1 whole chicken
2 T lemongrass, white part only, thinly sliced OR
1 T lemon zest & 1 T fresh ginger
1 t white pepper
1 t black pepper
10 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
10 stalks of cilantro
1 shallot, roughly chopped
1 t coriander
2 T fish sauce
2 T palm sugar, roughly chopped
1 red chili, roughly chopped
2 T soy sauce
2 T dark soy sauce
1 t Turmeric
2 T vegetable oil

Nam Jim Jaew (dipping sauce)

1 T cilantro, finely chopped
1 T lime juice
1 T toasted sticky rice, finely ground
1 T red pepper, finely diced
1 T fish sauce
2 T tamarind paste
2 T palm sugar, finely chopped
1 T hot water
1 T scallions, finely diced
1 T shallots, finely diced
1 t dark soy sauce

~| Note: I broke down a whole chicken for this and this was more than enough marinade for two split breasts and two leg quarters, including enough to baste it on the grill several times. If you're making more than four pieces or so of chicken, you may want to double the marinade recipe. |~

Break down your chicken into split breasts and leg quarters. Save your wings, the spine, and any other parts for future chicken stock.
Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined.
Pour the marinade over your chicken and marinate for up to 48 hours.
Set up your charcoal grill so most of your coals are on half of it, creating a "warm" and a "cool" side where the chicken won't receive much direct heat on the "cool" side.
Grill the chicken skin-side up on the cool side for 35-45 minutes (depends on the size of your chicken). Baste your chicken every 10-15 minutes with the leftover marinade (I had enough to do this twice).
Flip the chicken over and place it skin-side down on the "warm" side for just a few minutes until the skin crisps up. Babysit the chicken at this phase- you don't want the skin to burn!
Remove your chicken and let it rest; while it does, prepare your dipping sauce.

For the Nam Jim Jaew, combine all of your ingredients into a bowl and stir. You want to make sure you get small cuts on everything so there aren't big chunks of anything.
Serve in a small dipping cup with your chicken.

My first attempt at this was served with basmati rice, made as directed replacing half of the water with coconut milk and adding 2 T cilantro and 2 T lime zest with some salt.

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