Back in the day, pandan chicken is not a common restaurant dish and you could only eat it if you were invited to dine at a Peranakan household. Pandan chicken is marinated with coconut milk, which tenderises and plumps up the chicken meat as it marinates in all the spices. It is important to marinate the chicken in the refrigerator because coconut milk can turn sour at room temperature.
The star of the dish is pandan, which when fried with the chicken infuses it with fragrance and flavour that is moutwatering and tempting.
Ingredients
2 chicken quarters
20 pieces pandan leaves
500ml cooking oil
Marinade
2 inches galangal
2 sprigs fresh cilantro
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbs black pepper
1 tsp fish sauce or soy sauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
Method
1. Cut each chicken quarter into 10 bite-size pieces.
2. Blend galangal and whole sprigs of cilantro including their roots.
3. Season chicken pieces with galangal, cilantro, coriander, sugar, salt, pepper, fish sauce, and coconut milk for at least 30 minutes.
4. When the coconut milk has been absorbed into the chicken, begin wrapping chicken in pandan leaves. Wrap each piece of chicken in a pandan leaf in a triangular shape, securing with toothpicks if necessary.
5. Heat oil to deep fry pandan packets of chicken in batches, about 5 minutes on each side. If any packet unravels when it enters the oil, remove immediately and rewrap them in the pandan.
6. Chicken is done when the oil stops sizzling and exposed corners become crispy. Remove from frying pan and drain off excess oil.
7. Serve with Thai sweet chilli sauce, or enjoy on its own.
