Thai pandan chicken (gai ob bai toey)
Serve the pandan chicken immediately as an appetizer, snack or, if you're like us in the family, as main dish.If serving as a main dish, pandan chicken is especially good with rice.
Ingredients
- 1 kilogram chicken thigh fillets (preferably skin on) cut into 2-inch cubes
Marinade
- 6 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic finely grated
- 1 tablespoon turmeric finely grated (or substitute half a teaspoon of turmeric powder)
- 2 tablespoons lime juice or lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 6 tablespoons coconut cream
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 2 bird's eye chilies finely chopped (optional)
To cook the chicken
- pandan leaves equal to the number of cut chicken pieces
- cooking oil for deep frying
Instructions
Marinate the chicken
- Place the chicken pieces in a bowl, and add all the ingredients for the marinade. Mix well.
- Cover and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour (overnight is ideal).
Wrap the chicken
- Cut off the root and light green portions of the pandan leaves.
- Take the dark green portion and blanch in hot water for 30 seconds to release the aroma and to make them more pliable.
- Wrap each piece of chicken in pandan leaf (see illustrated guide).
Fry the pandan chicken
- Heat the cooking oil in a wok or frying pan. Ideally, the oil should be at least three inches deep.
- Fry the pandan-wrapped chicken in batches over high heat. Three to four minutes should cook the chicken through. But, to be on the safe side, take one piece out of the oil and cut the chicken. If the juices run clear, the chicken is done. In not, fry a little longer.
- Drain the fried chicken pandan on a rack or strainer to allow excess oil to drip off before serving.