Ping Kai

Ingredients

The chicken

• 1whole chicken
• about 1.5 kg
• butterflied and flattened

The marinade

• 4lemongrass stalks
• tender part only, chopped
• 8garlic cloves
• 6coriander roots
• or a bunch of stems
• 4 tablespoonsfish sauce
• 2 tablespoonsoyster sauce
• 1 tablespoonsugar
• or palm sugar
• 2 teaspoonsblack pepper
• 2 tablespoonsoil

To grill

• charcoal
• split bamboo clamps
• or a wire grill
• string, to tie

To serve

• sticky rice
• jeow som or jeow bong
• fresh herbs

Directions

1. Use a generous bunch of the stems. Peel them away and discard them. Chop the pale tender centre finely. A hot fire burns it before it cooks. Let the charcoal burn down to embers. It should be glowing rather than flaming. Set the grill higher above the coals. Chicken must be cooked right through.
2. Check it rather than guessing. Check there rather than the breast. The juices should run entirely clear. Wash hands after handling raw chicken. Wash boards and knives as well. Do not let raw juices touch other food.
3. Set the chicken breast side down. Cut down each side of the backbone. Use kitchen shears rather than a knife. Cut from tail to neck on both sides. Remove the whole backbone entirely. Keep the backbone for making stock. Do not simply throw the bone away.
4. Turn the chicken breast side up. Press down hard on the breastbone. You should hear the bone crack. Press with the heel of your hand. Scoring the thick parts is worth doing. Cut slashes in the thickest parts. Slashing helps them cook through.
5. Cut down in towards the thigh bone. Pound the lemongrass, garlic and coriander root. Add the fish sauce and oyster sauce. Add the sugar, pepper and oil. Taste it before adding any salt. Rub the marinade all over the chicken.
6. Work it right into all the slashes. Four hours is a workable minimum. Wait until it is covered in grey ash. Wait for the fire to burn down properly. Tie it closed with kitchen string.
7. Set the chicken over the coals. Start it off skin side upward. Turn it skin down near the end. Cooking it takes about forty minutes. Turn it every ten minutes or so. A flattened bird takes about forty minutes. Brush it with leftover marinade. Stop basting ten minutes before the end.
8. Let the flame die before returning it. Judging it takes a proper check. Bone reads hotter than the meat. Check the thickest part of the thigh. Pierce the thigh with a knife tip. The juices should run entirely clear. Let it rest for ten full minutes. Cover it loosely while it rests. Serving it is done cut into pieces.
9. Cut it into pieces with a cleaver. Cut it into manageable pieces. Serve warm sticky rice alongside. Serve a jeow dipping sauce with it. Jeow som is sour and quite hot.

Technique

• Chicken must be cooked right through, since undercooked chicken carries real risk. Check the thickest part of the thigh, which cooks last, rather than the breast — it should read seventy-five degrees on a thermometer avoiding the bone, or the juices should run entirely clear when pierced. Wash hands, boards and knives after handling it raw.
• The marinade has touched raw chicken, so stop basting with it ten minutes before the end so the heat kills anything on the surface, or boil it before using.
• Butterflying is what makes the dish work: a whole chicken is thick and uneven so the breast cooks before the thighs, and flattening evens the thickness so everything cooks at the same rate. Cut down each side of the backbone with kitchen shears, turn it over and press hard on the breastbone until it cracks.

Substitutions

• A hinged wire fish grill stands in for the split bamboo clamp, holding the bird flat and letting you turn it in one movement; without either it curls up and cooks unevenly again.
• The lower coriander stems stand in for the roots, which are not always sold attached; they are stronger than the leaves, so use a generous bunch.

Variations

• Grill it slowly over grey-ashed embers rather than flames, setting the grill high or banking the coals to one side — a hot fire burns a flattened bird before it cooks, and it takes about forty minutes.
• Start it skin side up, which cooks the flesh first, and turn it skin down only near the end to crisp without burning. Move it aside when dripping fat flares, and let the flame die before returning it.
• The atlas also carries ping sin, grilled beef: ping means grilled in Lao and the two share the word and the method.

History

Butterflied chicken marinated with garlic, coriander root and fish sauce, flattened between bamboo and grilled slowly over charcoal.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ping Kai?

Ping Kai is a street food from Laos: split lemongrass-marinated chicken grilled over charcoal. Butterflied chicken marinated with garlic, coriander root and fish sauce, flattened between bamboo and grilled slowly over charcoal.

How long does Ping Kai take to make?

Ping Kai takes 30 minutes plus marinating of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Ping Kai?

Yes, within limits. A hinged wire fish grill stands in for the split bamboo clamp, holding the bird flat and letting you turn it in one movement; without either it curls up and cooks unevenly again. The lower coriander stems stand in for the roots, which are not always sold attached; they are stronger than the leaves, so use a generous bunch.

What is the most important thing to get right in Ping Kai?

Use a generous bunch of the stems. Peel them away and discard them. Chop the pale tender centre finely. A hot fire burns it before it cooks. Let the charcoal burn down to embers. It should be glowing rather than flaming. Set the grill higher above the coals. Chicken must be cooked right through.