I never imagined a simple ingredient such as the coriander root can make such a difference to a marinade. Yes, that is the secret to this super-delicious grilled chicken shared by a very generous lady Nuk from her chef sister. She made this for one of our gatherings and I immediately begged her for the recipe, with measurements that is. And so, here it is to be shared with all you readers :). Just a note, I marinade this for two nights in a fridge, so the flavours really seeps into the chicken, but one night would be enough too.
Ingredients
1-1.5kg fresh chicken, cut into four parts
Coriander root (2-3)
4 garlic cloves
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons coconut milk, for basting the chicken while grilling it
Steps
- Clean and cut the chicken into four parts, you may cut it even smaller if desired, but it might make the basting a bit more challenging ;)
- Pound the garlic, coriander and black pepper together in a mortar, then add the rest of the ingredients except coconut milk and mix well.
- Rub it well into the chicken pieces and leave to marinade overnight.
- Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before grilling in the oven preheated to 180°C. Remove the garlic and coriander pieces and pat dry the chicken pieces before placing it skin side up on a aluminum lined tray.
- Bake for about 45 minutes, using the coconut milk mixed with the remaining marinade, basting every 15 minutes.
- For the last 5-10 minutes, turn up the oven temperature to 225°C if you like the skin brown and crispy, but keep a close watch on it otherwise it will burn easily at this point.
- Traditionally, this is served with som tum and sticky rice. In our household, it just went very well with some hot rice and chili :)
