Thai Chicken with Fresh Herbs and Coconut Milk

This recipe was one of those random newspaper cutouts that I've been keeping for ages.  I'm so glad I finally came round to cooking it because the flavours are just amazing.  Well, to start with, you really can't go wrong with the combination of lime, lemongrass and coriander. 

As usual, I couldn't resist tweaking with the original recipe and ended up with two versions - a dry version with lots of fresh herbs to give you that burst of zesty flavours; and a wet version with the addition of coconut milk.  It tones down the sharp tang from the herbs to give a creamy, velvety texture to the dish.  Both are wonderfully appetizing, just make sure there's lots of hot steam rice to go with it.


Thai Chicken with Fresh Herbs and Coconut Milk
Serves 3-4

• 2 chicken legs, cut into 8-10 chunky pieces, skin on
• 1 lemongrass, white part only, chopped
• 1 bunch of coriander, rinsed, chopped
• Zest and juice of two large limes
• I knob of ginger, chopped
• A small handful of fresh mint, rinsed and the leaves roughly torn
• 1 tbspn of fish sauce
• 1 tbspn of soy sauce
• 3 tbspn of melted palm sugar
• White pepper

1. Put the lemongrass, coriander, lime zest and ginger into a blender and blitz into a paste or use a mortal and pestle to pound.
2. Marinade the chicken pieces together with the lime juice for 20minutes.
3. Heat some oil in a cooking pan and fry the chicken on medium high heat until golden.  Turn down the fire to simmer until chicken is properly cooked through. 
4. Add the seasonings, adjusting the taste with more lime juice or palm sugar if necessary.  For the dry version, stir in the mint leaves and serve immediately.
5. For the wet version, pour in the coconut milk and bring to a gentle simmer.  Stir in the mint leaves and serve immediately.

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Diana of The Domestic Goddess Wannabe