For our first Christmas Eve dinner away from the family, I was determined to cook something extremely delicious and memorable for the husband. Since I had been working with beef quite extensively, and was quite intimidated by the thought of doing a turkey, I decided to roast a chicken instead.
One of my fondest childhood memories was of this Thai lady selling Gai Yaang outside the Yaohan supermarket at Bukit Timah Plaza. Just thinking of the name of the dish brought back memories of the smoky, sweet meat that was evenly cooked yet moist. Even though all I had was a traditional electric oven, I thought it was doable. So I trawled the internet for a few recipes and decided to combine the gai yaang marinade with lemongrass, lime and shallots.
I chopped up the stem of the lemongrass very finely.
And added minced garlic, chopped coriander stems and roots, shallots and white peppercorns to it.
I threw in some limes, and mixed it up with sugar, fish sauce and lime juice.
Left the chicken to marinate in the fridge for around 4-5 hours.
I made a chilli dip on the side, using fish sauce, sugar, shallots, mint leaves, coriander leaves and chilli powder.
After half an hour of roasting at 190deg C, the chicken was done. It was absolutely perfect. Cooked right through to the inside, yet moist and juicy. I regret not taking a picture of the meat after the chicken was carved; we were ravenous by then.
The chilli dip went beautifully with the chicken.
I also prepared a couple of salads, one with spinach leaves and cucumber with mint, Thai basil, coriander leaves and shallots with a vinegar and lime dressing.
And another salad of raw swiss browns with asiago cheese, topped with lemon infused olive oil, salt and cracked pepper.
It was one of our most enjoyable home cooked meals in Melbourne :)
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