A friend sent me a recipe from Australian chef Marion Grasby, whose recipe was actually her mom’s. It has a rather romantic history. Her Australian dad knew he would marry her Thai mom the moment he tasted this dish that she made.
I harbor no illusions of soliciting one’s hand in marriage by preparing this dish. I just wanted to really know why Marion’s family calls this the best chicken dish ever.
It calls for a whole chicken. Since we had some leftover roast chicken from yesterday, I found it prudent to use that instead. I also thought to add some pineapple chunks for sweetness and tartness (they are a Thai ingredient anyway) 😛
The ingredients are:
- a few pieces of coriander roots or wansoy
- a couple of garlic cloves
- a piece of anise
- half a cup of soy sauce
- half a cup of brown sugar
- small pack of pineapple chunks (optional)
- and a whole chicken (here replaced by a few slices of roasted chicken breast/wings)
Directions:
Pound the coriander leaves and garlic with some salt and black pepper corns in a mortar and pestle. Do this until you get a rough paste.
Fry the paste in oil, then put in the chicken (chopped into regular pieces). Add water, soy sauce, brown sugar and put in the anise.
Boil for 10 minutes (if the chicken is uncooked, the recipe calls for 1 and 1/2 hours of boiling in the broth). The original recipe is rather watery or saucy. You can make the sauce a bit thicker by boiling it longer until it becomes syrupy. Adjust seasoning (salt and pepper) to taste. I think this is best served over hot rice. Enjoy!
Friendship & Fries 