Thai cuisine · Meat & Kebab

Gai Op Kluea

Whole chicken stuffed with lemongrass, encased in coarse salt, and cooked over embers to juicy meat under a salty crust.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 1 chicken (about 1.4 kg)
• 4 stalks lemongrass
• 6 pandan leaves
• 300 g coarse sea salt
• 1 egg white
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 4 tbsp sweet chili sauce

Instructions

1. Pat the chicken dry inside and out, rub with fish sauce, grated garlic and white pepper, and let marinate chilled for 1 hr.
2. Flatten the lemongrass, stuff into the cavity along with the pandan leaves and cilantro stems, and close the opening with a skewer.
3. Mix the coarse sea salt with the egg white and 2 tbsp water into a moist, moldable paste and wrap the chicken all over about 1 cm thick, especially carefully at the breast.
4. Bring the grill to medium indirect embers of about 200°C and cook the chicken covered for 60–70 min until the crust is hard and baked light brown.
5. Check with a skewer at the thickest part of the thigh that the juices run clear, then let the chicken rest for 10 min.
6. Crack the salt crust open with the back of a knife and lift it off, carve the chicken, and serve with cilantro leaves and sweet chili sauce.