Method:
1. Begin by making a paste, first soak the dried chillis in warm water and leave until they soften. Whilst you’re waiting for the chillis to soften, in a food blender add 2 bruised and chopped lemongrass stalks, 1 deseeded fresh red chilli, 5 peeled shallots, 4 cloves of garlic and pulse. After the larger ingredients are ground the dried chillis should now be soft so now add to the blender. Then add 2 tbsp of brown sugar, 2 tbsp fish sauce, ground coriander, turmeric and the juice of 2 limes. Now add fish sauce and again pulse until fairly smooth. Add a touch of salt if needed then additional oil if the paste is too thick. When the marinade is ready set aside and divide into 2 (half for marinading half for a sauce).
2. Now onto preparing the chicken, quite simply to spatchcock means to cut in half, Down the back of the chicken there is a spine roughly 1 inch thick we want to remove the spine and flatten out the chicken. When the chicken is flat turn over so that the skin is faced down then between the two breasts there will be a breast bone, remove that small v shaped breast bone and were ready (the purpose of removing the breast bone is to speed up the cooking process).
3. For marinading the chicken start by poking small holes all over the flesh side of the chicken with a small knife, next add half of the marinade and cover all over the chicken. Make sure all parts of the chicken are coated in the marinade then refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours before cooking (overnight would be perfect).
4. To make a sauce for the chicken, in a pan dry fry the other half of the marinade paste then after 10 minutes of frying the paste should have become fragrant. Next prepare 1 cup of chicken stock (instant chicken stock is fine) then add to the paste and simmer for 20 minutes then set aside.
5. To cook the chicken I personally barbecued it whole constantly turning to make sure it does not burn. On a bbq you want to cook at a medium heat (approximately 180 degrees) if the bbq you have has a lid this will speed up the cooking process. Now cook on a medium heat otherwise the chicken will burn and be raw on the inside if the temperature is too hot. This method should take approximately 40 minutes although if you don’t have access to a bbq then you can also bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes. To check the chicken is cooked insert a knife into the thigh bone and if the juices run out clear it is cooked, If not cook further more until the juices run clear.
6. Now the chicken is cooked, use a brush to baste the chicken with the sauce we made earlier and serve with the remaining sauce.
Hope you enjoy making this one!!!
Additional notes
This marinade is also fantastic with chicken thighs, you can also give them more of a kick by replacing the medium red chillis with scotch bonnets. Another way to cook them without using the skewers is to bake at around 180 degrees for approx 20 mins.
Hope you all enjoy this one nice and easy!
Ingredients
1 whole free range chicken
2 lemongrass stalks
10 medium sized dried chillis
1 fresh chilli
5 small asian shallots
4 cloves garlic
2 whole limes
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
250ml cup chicken stock
additional vegetable oil
salt to taste
