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The Fire 50 · cook it at home

Gai yang: Thai grilled chicken with sticky rice

1 hr plus 3 hr marinating · 4 people

Northern Thai grills cook flattened chicken slowly over low charcoal so the skin crisps and the fat drips into the coals. The marinade does most of the work; a charcoal grill gives the smoke.

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The real one

You need

• 1.2 kg (2 1/2 lb) bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks, or 1 small chicken spatchcocked
• For the marinade: 4 cilantro roots or 1 small bunch of stems, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp white peppercorns
• 1 stalk lemongrass, tender part, sliced
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp palm or brown sugar
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• For jaew dipping sauce: 2 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp lime juice, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp chili flakes, 1 tbsp toasted rice powder, 1 shallot sliced
• To serve: sticky rice, green papaya salad or sliced cucumber

How to make it

1. Pound the marinade (10 min): Pound or blend the cilantro roots, garlic, peppercorns and lemongrass to a paste. Stir in the sauces, sugar and oil.
2. Marinate (5 min, plus 3 hr to overnight): Slash the chicken to the bone, rub the paste in well and refrigerate.
3. Grill low and slow (35 to 45 min): Build a medium-low charcoal fire (hand over the grate 6 seconds). Grill the chicken, turning every 5 minutes, until the skin is crisp and deep golden and the meat reads 75°C (165°F) at the bone. Move pieces away from flare-ups. In the oven: 200°C (400°F) on a rack for 35 minutes, then 3 minutes under the broiler.
4. Make the jaew (5 min): Stir all the sauce ingredients together.
5. Serve (2 min): Chop the chicken into pieces and serve with sticky rice, the papaya salad and jaew for dipping.

Tips

• Cilantro roots are the backbone of the flavor; stems are the next best thing.
• Low heat is the secret; high heat burns the sugar before the chicken cooks.
• For Jalan Alor-style wings, use the same marinade on wings and grill 20 minutes.

Chef Amazing's own home version of gai yang, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.