Slow roast citrus chicken with cucumber salad. It is inspired by gai yang, a Thai dish of chargrilled chicken marinated in lemongrass, lime, coriander, garlic and fish sauce, and served with a crunchy, zippy salad. John served it with jasmine rice, to soak up all the fragrant juices from the chicken and dressing.
INGREDIENTS Serves 4
For the chicken
2 lemongrass stalks, roughly chopped
3cm piece root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
A large handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Juice of ½ an orange (other half for the dressing)
Juice of 1 lime
4 garlic cloves, peeled
½ tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon caster sugar
4 tablespoons sunflower oil
4 chicken legs or 8 thighs
5 banana shallots, peeled and halved lengthways
Salt
For the cucumber salad
Zest and juice of 2 limes
Juice of half the orange
2 fresh makrut lime leaves, very finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
A pinch of salt
1 cucumber, julienned or thinly sliced
A small handful of coriander, leaves finely chopped
A small handful of thai basil, leaves finely chopped
50g roasted peanuts, finely chopped, plus more to serve
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 240C.
To make the marinade, put the lemongrass, ginger, coriander leaves, orange and lime juice, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce, pepper, sugar, a pinch of salt and oil in a blender and blitz to a paste. Rub three-quarters of the marinade all over the chicken, then set aside for at least 20 minutes.
Put the shallots on a baking tray with a pinch of salt. Add the remaining marinade and two tablespoons of oil, toss to coat, then lay the chicken on top in a single layer.
Roast for 25 minutes, then add 100ml water to the tray and turn down the heat to 190C and cook for another 45 minutes, until golden.
To make the salad, zest the limes into a bowl, then squeeze in the lime juice, the other half of the orange juice, the finely chopped lime leaves, fish sauce, red chilli and salt. Give it a quick mix, then chop the cucumber however you like, and add to the bowl with the dressing and herb leaves.
Season the peanuts with a pinch of salt, then toss with the cucumber salad. Serve the chicken with a few roast shallots, a scoop of rice and a mound of salad, and top with an extra sprinkling of peanuts.
Original Recipe Kitty Coles writing in the Guardian
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