Recipe: Thai-Style Roast Chicken on the Big Green Egg

This recipe comes from our Islington Square team, who created it as part of our Big Green Egg demonstrations. It takes all the ingredients of a proper Thai red curry and gives it the roast chicken treatment. The final touch is a punchy pan sauce that’s mellowed out with coconut milk. So many customers have requested the recipe from us that we decided it’s time to add it to our blog. (Yes, you can make it in the oven too – see 'BK Tips'.) 

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
6 lemongrass stalks
2 heads of garlic, plus 4 cloves
4 red chillies
1 lime
6-10 dried lime leaves
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp galangal paste
1 tsp soy sauce
25g coconut oil or butter
25g palm sugar
1 to 2 tins (400g) coconut milk, depending on the size of your pan or how much sauce you’d like

Method

  1. About 25 minutes before cooking, take your chicken out from the fridge and pat it down with a kitchen towel so it's very dry. Trim off excess fat and prick the skin all over.
  2. Remove the tough outer husks of two lemongrass stalks, peel two garlic cloves, and slice a red chilli in half. Place inside the chicken’s cavity
  3. Cut the two heads of garlic in half horizontally and place in the base of a barbecue-compatible roasting pan, along with a lime cut in half. Put the chicken in the roasting dish along with the garlic and lime halves.
  4. Remove the outer layers of two more stalks of lemongrass, bash it flat with the end of your knife’s handle, and thinly slice. Place in a pestle and mortar. Thinly slice two chillies and crumble half the lime leaves; add them to the pestle and mortar and grind the mixture until it’s a fine paste. Add two peeled cloves of garlic, along with the fish sauce, galangal, and soy sauce, and grind into a paste.
  5. In a small saucepan on the hob, melt the coconut oil or butter. Add the spice paste from the pestle and mortar and whisk. Simmer over low heat until fragrant, then add the sugar and whisk until dissolved.
  6. Pour two-thirds of the mixture from the saucepan over the chicken on the roasting pan.
  7. Set your Big Green Egg up with the ConvEGGtor plate and close the lid. Heat the Egg to 160°C. When it’s up to temperature, roast the chicken for 40-60 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken. Then bump the temperature up to 180°C for a further 20 minutes to crisp up the skin. Lift the lid from time to time to check on the chicken: If it looks like it’s drying out, baste the chicken by carefully tilting the roasting dish to one side (glove on!) and spooning the sauce from the side of the pan over the top of the chicken a few times. Repeat as necessary.
  8. Once the chicken is cooked, add the remaining lime leaves (crumbled), lemongrass stalks (outer husks removed), and the last chilli, sliced in half, to the roasting pan with the chicken. Then slowly pour in the coconut milk. With the barbecue uncovered, simmer for 5-10 minutes, basting the chicken as you go (as above). The less time you cook, the creamier the texture of the sauce; a longer cook time will reduce the chicken fat and spices more, giving it a thicker, more traditional pan sauce texture that’s richer in flavour.
  9. Use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken. Inserted into the thickest part, it should read 74°C. Serve with rice and salad. 

BK Tips

  • To prepare this dish in the oven, follow the instructions above but place chicken in the oven, in a hob-compatible roasting pan, at 160°C for 40-60 minutes depending on the size of your chicken. Then increase the temp to 180°C for 20 minutes to crisp up the skin. Once cooked, remove the pan from the oven and place it over medium heat on the hob. Add the remaining spices and coconut milk, and reduce until your desired taste and consistency, for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

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