Back
Thai Grilled Chicken Skewers – Gai Yang
Thai Grilled Chicken or Gai Yang in Thai, is coconut-basted grilled chicken.
UK BBQ Week coincided with our live cook. Â The theme was World Cuisine so we were inspired to use the recipe from last year’s Thai class. Â Rather than cook a whole chicken we used thighs to create skewers. We paired it with a Thai Green curry and it really intensified the flavour of the whole dish. Â The skewers would could also be the star of the show in a Thai salad.
Cooking surfaces
BBQ Temperature
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs (1 thigh per person)
- 2 tbsp coriander stalks, chopped
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 2 shallots
- 2 sticks lemongrass
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 1/2 cup of coconut milk (tins with 60% min coconut)
Method
- To make the marinade, add all the ingredients except the coconut milk to a blender and blend to a paste.
- Unless you have bought chicken thighs already prepared, you need to remove the skin and bone from the chicken thighs. Â Then chop the thigh in half lengthways so you have two pieces of thigh.
- Place your chicken in a bowl and marinade in the paste and allow to marinade for 4 hours minimum, preferably overnight.
- Setup your Big Green Egg for a direct cook at 180°C with just your stainless steel grid.
- Place 2 pieces of the marinaded chicken on to one skewers. Â Repeat until you’ve skewered all the chicken. We used soaked wooden skewers during the cook.
- Cook your chicken, basting it every 5 or so minutes, with the coconut milk. Every so often, turn your chicken skewers over.
- Cook your chicken until it has a good colour and the internal temperature of the breasts has reached at least 74°C.
- Allow your chicken to rest for 10 minutes . Thai people portion their chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Serve with your dipping sauce.