Mark's Thai Style Spicy Roast Chicken

Mark's Thai Style Roast Chicken

This is a breeze to prepare and is always well received. I prepare it all the way till just prior to roasting and leave it in the fridge to marinade overnight.

When your guests arrive, serve the starters (suggest Toasted Crusty Bread with Dips - see Dips Recipes) and pop the bird into the oven to roast. By the time the guests are thru with starters, chicken'll be ready to serve.

THE GEAR

• Convection Microwave oven (I use Sharp, which has an auto-roast chicken function)
• My trusty handheld Electric chopper
• A Roasting Pan
• 2 Bamboo skewers
• Grater (this is for zesting the lemon if you want to prepare the sprinkle in addition)

THE STUFF

• 1 Chicken, butterflied & skewered (see method on Butterflying a Chicken)
• 1 packet of Thai Red Curry Mix (available from Cold Storage / NTUC Supermarts)
• 2-3 sticks of Lemongrass, discard top ends and use the white bulb portions about 4-5 inches from the roots.
• 1 packed cup of Thai Basil Leaves, washed and drained
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil for greasing the baking pan

You may prepare a sprinkle to serve alongside the roast in addition using

• 1 clove garlic
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 packed cup of coriander leaves
• 1/2 packed cup of Thai basil leaves

Just whiz the sprinkles ingredients in the blender and its done!



THE STEPS

You may prepare the following steps in advance, one day prior to the dinner.

1. Grease the baking pan
2. Hammer bulb of lemongrass sticks and lay at the bottom of greased pan
3. Butterfly & skewer the chicken
4. Chop basil leaves finely with the blender
5. Mix chopped leaves with Red Thai Curry paste.
6. Stuff this mix in-between the skin and the flesh of the chicken with a teaspoon, being careful to keep as much of the skin intact as possible. Try to distribute the paste evenly thruout the chicken. This steps requires some degree of manual dexterity. I usually stuff the mix in from each side of the butterflied chicken. I used to just smear the paste on the outside of the chicken, but I realised that the paste simply gets charred and doesn't flavor the meat as much. Also, my guests are usually rather health conscious and many of them actually leave the skin behind on their plates!
7. Smear the remainder of the mix all over the outside of the chicken (both the skin surface as well as the cavity surface)

If you're not roasting the chicken immediately, the chicken may then be cling-wrapped and stuffed into the refridgerator until the next day for roasting.

The following steps lead on to eventual roasting and serving:

1. Place the chicken skin-side up on the roasting pan.
2. Set the microwave to auto-roast chicken function. Halfway thru the roasting process, the microwave oven would prompt me to turn the bird, but I usually just hit the Proceed button without turning the bird (this is the advantage of butterflying the chicken!) If you don't own a microwave oven with autoroast function, you may roast using convection or a conventional oven (roasting time would vary according the size of the chicken) until juices from the thigh runs clear. The chicken would usually cook rather evenly once butterflied.
3. When the chicken is done, stand for about 5 minutes, garnish with parsley and basil sprigs before serving with the sprinkle if you've decided to make it.