Thai Roast Chicken

Everybody loves a classic roast chicken, right? There truly is nothing better, if done right. However, this week I've been craving fresh and punchy Thai flavours and decided to make a marinade that dreams of made of -fragrant garlic, ginger, chilli, sriracha, lime, soy sauce, fish sauce, honey, fresh coriander and mint.I roasted a butterflied chicken in this marinade and brushed it every so often. What you get is tender, juicy flesh and dark, sticky and delicious skin. This chicken wasn't supposed to be a recipe post, in fact, I was actually testing a bao bun recipe for a blog post. The chicken ended up being more impressive than my bao. So, the focus of this post is the chicken. However, my 90% perfect bao went down a treat with this chicken. We enjoyed it with pickled cabbage, carrot, cucumber, fresh herbs. The residual cooking liquid is incredible, like liquid gold kinda stuff, it turns out that bao buns are perfect for soaking it all up! Or toss the shredded chicken into the liquid.  It is a messy, finger-licking good experience. Equally delicious as a bunless meal served with the same prepared veggies and some roasted sweet potato wedges. I will be posting a perfected bao bun recipe soon (because nothing irks me more than a half-arsed recipe), so watch this space and be sure to follow my instagram to stay in the loop.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 1 medium free range chicken

Marinade:

  • 3 garlic cloves crushed
  • 2 Tbsp (30 ml) grated ginger
  • a handful of coriander finely chopped
  • a small handful of fresh mint leaves finely chopped
  • 3 Tbsp (45 ml) soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp (15 ml) fish sauce
  • 1 Tbsp (15 ml) honey or brown sugar
  • 1 tsp (5 ml) sesame oil
  • 1 Tbsp (15 ml) lime juice or rice wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp (15 ml) Sriracha sauce
  • 1 tsp (5 ml) red chilli paste (sambal oelek)

To serve:

  • Fresh red chillies thinly sliced
  • Fresh coriander and mint
  • Julienne carrot and cucumber
  • Pickled red cabbage
  • Pre-made bao buns or roasted sweet potato wedges

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C.
  • Butterfly the chicken by cutting through the back bone. Rinse and pat dry.
  • Combine all the marinade ingredients together.
  • Place chicken in a snug baking dish and pour marinade all over the chicken. Squeeze some under the skin, if you can.
  • Allow to marinate for 30 minutes or as long as you can. Turn chicken over every 10 minutes for even marination.
  • Roast for 30 minutes. The skin will start getting super dark on the higher points of the chicken (e.g. the breasts). Cover those areas with foil and roast for a further 20 - 30 minutes - depending on size of your chook.
  • Remember to quickly brush the chicken with the marinade/cooking juices every 15 minutes.
  • Allow chicken to rest in the cooking juices for 15 minutes.
  • Garnish with sliced chilli and fresh herbs.
  • Serve with prepped salad goodies and bao bun or roasted sweet potato wedges.

Notes

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