Chicken in pandanus leaves

Pandanus chicken is a fragrant Thai dish where marinated chicken is wrapped in pandan leaves, steamed and then fried. The marinade, enriched with Thai seasoning sauce (available from Asian grocery stores) is packed with savoury richness balancing the herbaceous flavour of the pandan leaves. This recipe comes from chef Bee Satongun.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Series. Cooking. Rated PG.

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The Cook Up with Adam Liaw

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Ingredients

• 400 g chicken thigh fillets
• 2 coriander roots
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp white peppercorns
• 1 tbsp Thai seasoning sauce
• 1 tbsp sriracha chilli sauce
• ½ cup coconut milk
• A pinch salt
• 10 pandan leaves
• Small bamboo skewers
• Vegetable oil, for deep-frying

For the dipping sauce

• 50 g palm sugar
• 1 tbsp sweet dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Thai sriracha chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp seasoning sauce
• ⅓ cup (80 ml) water
• 2 slices ginger
• 1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds

Marinading time: 2 hours

Instructions

1. Cut the chicken into 25 g pieces. To make the marinade, combine the coriander roots, garlic and white pepper in a mortar and pestle and pound to a fine paste. Add the seasoning sauce, chilli sauce, coconut milk and a pinch of salt then mix well to combine. Pour the marinade into a bowl with the chicken pieces. Stir to coat, then marinate for 2 hours before using.
2. While the chicken marinates, combine the ingredients (except for the sesame seeds) for the dipping sauce in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Wash and dry the pandan leaves. To wrap the chicken, fold each leaf into a cone, place a piece of chicken inside, and wrap tightly to enclose, securing with a small bamboo skewer. Repeat with remaining chicken and pandan leaves.
4. Prepare a bamboo steamer set over a saucepan of simmering water. Steam the pandan wrapped chicken for 5 minutes, then remove and drain of any excess water. Heat enough oil to deep-fry in a medium saucepan to 160–170°C, then deep-fry in batches for 2 minutes. Use tongs to remove to a wire rack to drain of any excess oil.
5. Remove the ginger slices from the sauce and stir in the sesame seeds, then serve the pandanus chicken with the sauce on the side.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.