‘Khao Man Gai’ is the Thai variation of Hainanese chicken, and it is a very common street food in Thailand. When I made it the very first time, I already love it better than the typical Hainanese chicken because the chicken is so aromatic and full of flavors, even without dipping sauce. Why? It’s because of all the extra herbs used besides the typical ginger used in cooking Hainanese chicken.
The traditional way for cooking the chicken is to boil it in water, then use the broth to make chicken rice. I, instead, like to steam the chicken with all the herbs inside the chicken cavity. By doing so the chicken will be much more aromatic and flavorful. There will also be lots of juice, also packed with flavors, drawn out from the chicken during steaming, so if you need broth to cook chicken rice you can always dilute the juice with canned broth or water.
There is a special Thai dipping sauce for ‘Khao Man Gai’, but I usually just make a simple dipping using sweet soy sauce (aka Indonesian ‘kecap manis’), soy sauce and spicy Thai hot chili peppers and garlic. Sometimes I make Chinese ginger scallion sauce as shown in the picture below. I do want to try the Thai dipping sauce. Maybe one day I’ll make the complete version of ‘Khao Man Gai’ with the rice and dipping sauce…
Thai Style Hainanese Chicken ‘Khao Man Gai’ 泰式海南鷄
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken– yellow free range chicken 黄毛鷄 or Kui Fei chicken 贵妃鷄 preferred
About 2 tbsps salt
3 inch ginger– skin off, cut into pieces then smash with a knife
4 cloves garlic– skin off then smash with knife
2 shallots– skin off then smash with knife
1 stalk lemon grass– use only whitish part, bruise with the handle of a knife then cut into 3″ length
1/2 bundle of cilantro
Method:
- Clean the chicken: Remove any feathers, excess fat (reserve chicken fat for making the rice if desired). If your chicken comes with gizzards, liver and heart, remove and set aside (you can steam the organs along with the chicken). Rinse the chicken with water and pat dry with paper towel.
- Place chicken on a large tray (to catch any herbs while rubbing the chicken). Rub salt generously all over, including inside the cavity. Then give it a massage. Rub ginger all over the chicken, inside and out, followed by garlic, shallots and lemon grass. Place all the herbs and cilantro inside the cavity. With the breast side faces up, place chicken in a deep dish plate (there will be lots of chicken juice drawn during cooking, so deep dish plate is a must to catch the juice). Marinade for at least one hour.
- Bring a steamer to a rapid boil on medium high heat, steam chicken for about 45 minutes. Remove from the steamer and remove all herbs in the cavity. Pour chicken juice into a bowl (juice can be drizzled on the rice). Let the chicken cool slightly before cutting into pieces. Served immediately.
Queen of the Chennaults 