Thai grilled chicken (gai yang) with carrot som tam
44 min · 55 g protein · 592 cals / serving
Isaan street food at home: chicken in a lemongrass, garlic, fish sauce and palm sugar marinade, grilled until charred in spots, beside a crunchy pounded som tam of carrot, cucumber, green beans and tomatoes in a sour-hot-sweet lime dressing with peanuts. Jasmine rice to soak it all up.
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 large stalk lemongrass, white part only, sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, divided
- a small bunch fresh cilantro, stems for the marinade, leaves to serve
- 4 1/2 tbsp fish sauce, divided
- 1 tbsp tamari, gluten-free
- 3 tbsp brown sugar, or grated palm sugar, divided
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1 lb boneless skinless thighs chicken thigh
- 1 lb chicken breast chicken breast, halved horizontally into thin cutlets
Rice
- 1/2 cup jasmine rice, rinsed
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp water
Som tam
- 2 cups green beans, snake beans or green beans, in 4 cm (1 1/2-inch) lengths
- 4 large carrots, coarsely grated or julienned (or shredded green papaya)
- 1 large cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds scraped out, in thin matchsticks
- 1 2/3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1–2 bird's eye chillies red chili pepper, to taste
- 6 tbsp lime juice, about 3 limes
- 2 1/2 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly crushed
Steps
- Blitz the lemongrass, 3 of the garlic cloves, the coriander stems, 2 tablespoons of the fish sauce, the tamari, 1 1/2 tablespoons of the sugar and the white pepper with a stick blender (or pound in a mortar) to a paste, then stir in the oil. Toss the thighs and breast cutlets in it. Marinate at least 15 minutes while you do the rest, or up to a day covered in the fridge; the longer, the better.
- Bring the rice and water to a boil in a pan with a lid, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 12 minutes. Take off the heat and leave covered.
- Cut the beans, carrot, cucumber and tomatoes for the som tam and keep them apart.
- Heat a grill pan, barbecue or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lift half the chicken out of the marinade and cook 5–6 minutes a side, until charred in spots and 165°F inside; turn down the heat if it browns too fast. While it cooks, pound the remaining 3 garlic cloves with the chillies in a large mortar (or mash in a big bowl with the end of a rolling pin), stir in the rest of the fish sauce and sugar and the lime juice until the sugar dissolves, add the beans and bruise them lightly, then the carrot, cucumber and tomatoes, and pound and toss for a minute so they soak up the dressing. Scatter with peanuts.
- Cook the second batch of chicken the same way (discard what is left of the marinade) and rest it all 3 minutes. Slice and serve with the som tam, the rice and coriander leaves.
Good to know
Can I use all thighs?
Yes, thighs are the Isaan way and stay juicier on the grill, at about 58 instead of 63.
How hot is it?
As hot as your chillies. One bird's eye chilli makes a gentle som tam; Isaan cooks use five. For children, make the salad with no chilli and pass sliced chilli or chilli flakes at the table.
What about sticky rice?
Sticky rice is the Isaan way, eaten with your hands, but it needs soaking for hours. Jasmine rice is what most home cooks serve on a weeknight.
Per
- Calories
- 102
- Protein
- (38%)
- 9 g
- Fat
- (26%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (36%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 344 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2366 kcal goes into the pot and 2649 g of ingredients comes out as about 2325 g of food: 102 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.