Thai Spatchcock Chicken with Fragrant Rice – Delishar

When Mekhala Living sent me the care package, I was over the moon when I saw a bottle of Thai Fragrant Seasoning. I though to myself, “Finally, my prayers answered!”. A walk down the supermarket aisle, and on the spice rack you will see Italian spices, cajun spices, garlic & onion spice mix… etc. But what you will not find is a Thai spice mix. Dried spice mix like this makes life so much easier, no mincing and chopping of spices. Plus, I can bring it to the USA with me and still have Thai spices readily available! 

The Thai Fragrant Seasoning is made from the usual Thai herbs and spices such as basil, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, and lemongrass. Mekhala uses only the best organic produce from Thailand. And since I was making a spatchcock chicken with Thai seasoning, I took it a step further by using the Organic Cold Pressed Virgin Coconut Oil to give it extra fragrance. Coconut and thai spices are a match made in heaven!

Thai Spatchcock Chicken 3

I love roasting spatchcock chicken, simply because it cooks faster and more evenly. Do not know how to Spatchcock a chicken? Click on this link here to watch the video. I can stare at the crispy skin all day, and when you cut into the chicken, the juice… oh, the juice…Succulent chicken with crispy skin, what’s not to love? My girl kept saying, “Mom, I want the skin, please?”

I served the Thai chicken with Fragrant Coconut Rice, using the Lemongrass Turmeric Paste also included in the care package. That added a lot of flavours to the rich coconut rice! My youngest could not stop going on about how much she love the ‘yellow’ rice. I had 2 portions myself that night. The paste will make an awesome marinate, or simply fried rice. It’s a very good alternative to use if you love the Thai flavours but could not handle the heat. Great for kids to have very little spice tolerance too! Overall, this was an excellent meal! Thank you Mekhala Living!

Also see Crispy Tom Yum Chickpeas using Mekhala’s Tom Yum Paste

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Thai Spatchcock Chicken with Fragrant Rice

Delishar

Thai Spatchcock Chicken

  • 1.6 kg whole chicken cleaned
  • 1 heaping tbsp of Mekhala’s Thai Seasoning or you can use cajun/italian/curry etc
  • 1-2 tsp sea salt or to taste
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil

Turmeric Ginger Coconut Rice

  • 2 tbsp of Mekhala’s Turmeric Ginger paste
  • 2 cups of rice rinsed
  • 200 ml coconut milk
  • 2-3 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 knotted pandan leaf
  • water to fill up to your rice cooker mark for 2 cups rice

To Serve

  • Lime wedges
  • Chopped cilantro

Thai Spatchcock Chicken

  • To spatchcock a chicken, lay it on a cutting board with breast down.

  • Use a kitchen spears to cut and remove the back bone.

  • Flip chicken over, open and lay it as flat as possible on the cutting board.

  • Press firmly on breastbone to flatten.

  • Transfer to lightly greased baking tray.

  • Make a paste by mixing coconut oil, salt, pepper, and thai seasoning.

  • Massage the paste all over the top and inside part of the chicken.

  • Cling wrap it, and allow to marinate for an hour to 24 hours.

  • When ready, bake in middle rack of preheated oven of 200C for 50 minutes or until cooked.

  • Check by piercing leg, the juices should run clear.

Turmeric Ginger Coconut Rice

  • In your rice cooker, add rice, ginger, and coconut milk.

  • Top up enough water till your rice cooker marked 2 cups.

  • Stir in turmeric ginger paste.

  • Add pandan leaf.

  • Press cook.

  • Remove pandan leaf and fluff rice before serving.

Substitute for Mekhala’s turmeric ginger paste: 1 tbsp grated ginger + 2 tsp grated turmeric / 1 tsp turmeric powder + 2 garlic cloves minced + 1/4 tsp salt

Thai Spatchcock Chicken

 

Disclaimer: This post was made possible by Mekhala Living. However, all opinions are of my own.

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Spatchcock Tandoori-style Chicken – Delishar

Happy 2017!!! I missed you all while I was away in cold cold Wisconsin freezing my behind off! I had limited internet access, so I wasn’t able to be online most of the time. I’m not complaining though, I do like being offline and being able to be present with my family without distractions. 

We had an awesome white winter, and I get to spend time with my lovely nieces and favourite in laws! The girls got to build a huge snowman, walk on frozen lake, watch the fishermen out on the lake ice-fishing, went to a ski hill, and so much more. I’m thankful that the kids got to experience all these that’s not possible in sunny Singapore. 

The only other thing I missed a lot while I was there was spices. Warm Asian spices, and my hot hot chilis. The lovely husband knew I needed my spices and took me to an Indian restaurant a couple of times to ease my cravings. Which inspired me to make my own when I got back. So here it is. Tandoori chicken made easy. 

Using a zip-lock bag makes clean up so easy. Don’t have to worry about the spices staining your hands as well. Line your baking tray with aluminum foil, and you’ll hardly have anything to wash up after. I served my spatchcock tandoori chicken with Saffron Basmati Rice which I’ll be sharing with you in my next post, and some cucumber mint raita on the side. Everyone at home loved it. Definitely a recipe that I’d be making again soon!

As we start the new year, I’d like to thank all you yummilious readers for all the support that you have given to my cooking blog. Without you support, my cookbook would not have been possible. Pre-order of my debut cookbook, ‘Daily cooking with Delishar‘ will end on 15 Jan 2017. Don’t miss out the 10% off deal on Kinokuniya to get your signed copy. A total of 45 recipes with new and exclusive recipes for the cookbook only! Provide the discount code “DELISHAR“, for the 10% off upon checkout on their webstore.  

Spatchcock Tandoori-style Chicken

Delishar

  • 1.6 kg whole chicken
  • 1 inch thumb ginger peeled
  • 6 cloves garlic peeled
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • Coriander leaves chopped to garnish

Marinade

  • 150 ml natural yogurt
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp salt
  • Clean and pat dry chicken with paper towels.

  • To spatchcock a chicken, lay it on a cutting board with breast down.

  • Use a kitchen spears to cut along both sides of the back bone and remove it.

  • Flip chicken over, open and lay it as flat as possible on the cutting board.

  • Using palm, press firmly downwards on breastbone to flatten.

  • In a food processor or blender, process garlic and ginger until you get a paste.

  • Add garlic ginger paste, and all of the other marinade ingredientsinto a large zip-lock bag.

  • Zip it and mix until combined.

  • Place chicken into zip-lock bag, zip it, and spread marinade all over the top and underside of the chicken.

  • Leave it to marinate in the fridge over night or up to 24 hours.

  • Pre-heat oven to 200C.

  • Grease baking pan with coconut oil.

  • Remove chicken from zip-lock bag, discarding the left-over marinade.

  • Bake in middle rack at 200C for 50-60 minutes or until cooked.

  • Check by piercing thickest part of the leg, the juices should run clear.

  • Garnish with chopped coriander and serve.

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