Recipe - Kai Kaeng (Chicken Casserole)

4 cup Chicken; filleted and cut
into bite sized pieces
Marinade
1 tablespoon Garlic; cruchsed
1 tablespoon Fresh root ginger; grated
1 tablespoon Shallots; thinly cut or sliced up
1 tablespoon Peanut oil
1 pn Turmeric; and salt & pepper
to taste
Sauce
1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
1 teaspoon Coriander seeds
1 teaspoon Cardamom pods
1 tablespoon Fermented shrimp paste
1 cup Shallots; finely cut or sliced up (or
use red onions)
1 tablespoon Prik ki nu (green birdseye
chilis); thinly cut or sliced up
1 Tablespoom of prik ki nu
daeng (red; thinly cut or sliced up
birdseye chilis)
1 cup Coconut milk

Method

Mix the ingredients of the marinade, and marinade the chicken in a cool
place for about 3 hours.

Toast the cumin, coriander, and cardamom in a dry heavy skillet or wok,
until aromatic, and grind to a fine powder.

Blend the ingredients of the sauce together.

Transfer the chicken and marinade to a wok or sautee pan and stir fry until
the chicken just starts to change colour.

Transfer to a slowcrock cooker, add the sauce, and then simmer, covered on
low heat for one to one and a half hours (until the chicken is cooked,
tender, and the pieces fall apart at the pressure of a chopstick).

Serve with steamed white rice.

Kai Yang Isan (Barbequed Chicken)

Kai yang is literally "barbequed (or grilled) chicken", and is peasant
food. As such there are as many recipes as there are cooks in Thailand.
There are however two main styles: kai yang khrung thep ("Bangkok Style")
which is slightly more elaborate, and the basic kai yang isan ("North East
style"), which this is. Originally the chicken was cut open along the
belly, and opened out, then knocked flat with a couple of judicious blows
from the back of a cleaver, marinated, pegged in a split stick to hold it
and then grilled over a charcoal brazier.

Faced with the needs of restaurant cooking, my wife adapted the classic
recipe for an industrial rotisserie by adding a stuffing. You can do this
in a broiler oven or rotisserie. If you want a barbeque version, take two
flattened chickens, place them face to face with the stuffing between them,
and hold them in a pair of barbeque tongues, or one of those wire frame
things, and barbeque the sandwich.

NOTES: This is a "Thaiised" version of a recipe from Delia Smith's cooking
course, called Chicken with Whole Spice, which is a mild pastiche on Indian
food.

This version is set up for a slowcrock cooker, but it could be prepared as
a conventional casserole by simmering it on the stove top for about 30
minutes or in an oven at about 180 C for 30 minutes or so. In either case
check occasionally for "doneness" as I have lost my notes on oven cooking
of this dish (not owning an oven it is of little interest to us...).
Posted to recipeludigest Volume 01 Number 658 by "Diane Geary."
diane@keyway.net on Jan 31, 1998