Jenise - sorry to be so slow to post this - a week from hell in the financial services industry last week.
MARINADE
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 shallots, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup minced lemon grass
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
CHICKEN
1 whole chicken (about 3 pounds)
2 yellow onions, halved
1 lemon, halved
ACCOMPANIMENT
Ginger-lime dipping sauce (see below)
DIRECTIONS
- Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels
- Combine all marinade ingredients and mix well. Rub the marinade all over the chicken, inside and out. Place any remaining marinade inside the cavity. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bring chicken to room temp before roasting.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Place chicken in roasting pan. Put the onions and lemon into the cavity. Using a metal or wooden skewer, thread the cavity shut. Roast breast side up for 40 minutes. Turn chicken over and roast another 30 minutes. Baste occasionally. Turn chicken over again and roast until meat is cooked and tender and juices are clear, another 20 to 30 minutes. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving. Serve with ginger lime dipping sauce.
GINGER LIME DIPPING SAUCE
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 fresh thai bird or any chiles, chopped - and/or 1 teaspoon ground chile paste
2 tablespoons very finely minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice, preferably with pulp
1/4 cup water
4 tablespoons sugar
Place the garlic, chilies (paste) and ginger in a mortar and pound into a paste (this part with the mortar is key). Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. Transfer to a glass jar and cover with a tight lid. If regrigerated, sauce will keep up to three weeks.
Comments:
This took me right back to the streets of Hanoi - I would often see vendors making this in the street, usually with cut up chicken pieces. Which led me to another thought - as I knoshed on the leftover legs, wings and thighs the next couple of days I thought it was even better - so this could be a great way to do wings or thighs in the summer. Need to be careful not to burn due to the honey - so take a peek once and awhile.
This came from a cookbook called , "The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking" by Mai Pham - it is an EXCELLENT and easy to use Asian cookbook