Pandan chicken

Click here for the fried version of Thai pandan-wrapped chicken.

As far as I know, pandan chicken is a Thai dish. I have a friend who cooks this dish by deep frying each pandan wrapped chicken fillet. But me, I hate frying. :-P

pandan chicken

Ingredients :

deboned meat from 8-10 chicken thighs, skins on
1 tsp. of finely minced garlic
1 tsp. of finely chopped ginger
salt (herbed, if available) and pepper
4 tbsps. of oyster sauce
1/2 c. of powdered coconut cream
12-15 pandan leaves
3-4 c. of cooking oil, if deep frying

Cooking procedure :

Cut each deboned chicken thigh into three to four pieces, depending on how large the thighs are. Two-and-a-half inch cubes would be good since the meat will shrink a lot during cooking. Place in a glass bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the minced garlic and ginger, oyster sauce and powdered coconut cream. Mix well, cover with cling film and let sit in the fridge for at least two hours.

Note that if powdered coconut cream is not available, it might be a better idea to substitute dessicated coconut rather than canned or fresh coconut cream. Too much liquid will make the chicken meat slippery and rather difficult to wrap.

After marinating, wrap each piece of chicken in a pandan leaf, rolling the leaf around the chicken. You can secure with wooden toothpicks if you plan to deep fry your chicken pandan. Otherwise, simply lay the pandan wrapped chicken pieces on a baking tray tucking the ends of the pandan leaves underneath.

Cook the pandan wrapped chicken in a very hot pre-heated convection oven (I set it at its highest setting). Do not skip the pre-heating part. It is essential so that the pandan wrapped chicken pieces go into an already hot oven. That way, the outside of the chicken will brown fast
while the inside remains moist. With the small size of the chicken pieces, cooking will only take about eight to ten minutes.

With an ordinary oven, you’ll have to use the broil setting meaning using the top heat. Gas ovens don’t have this setting. If you can’t broil your pandan chicken, I suggest grilling them over live coals or deep frying them. If grilling, do not put the grilling rack too near the live coals. Grill the pandan chicken about 6-8 inches above the live coals, turning once halfway through the cooking. If deep frying, make sure that your cooking oil is very, very hot before adding the pandan chicken. Otherwise, they will get soggy as they cook. Whether grlling in a convection oven, broiling, grilling over live coals or deep frying, cook only until the outside is golden brown. Do not overcook so that the chicken remains moist and succulent.

That’s it, really. Within a minute from shutting the oven door, the mixed aromas of the spices, pandan leaves and coconut cream were all over the kitchen and my family knew they were about to experience something great. And they did. :)

October 17, 2005  Print This Post   
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Comments

10 Responses to “Pandan chicken”
  1. arlene says:

    looks yummy

  2. Lucy says:

    will try this one when I can find a pandan leaf here in finland LOL.. I will have to bring my little baby along with me in the asian shop on weekend uhuh.. :( (

  3. ireen says:

    i tried this so many times and i just cooked it again now and it tastes soo gooooodddd!!!!!…..thanks connie!!!….i really love your recipes!!!!….God bless!!!… =)

  4. jecs says:

    i tried this for the first time today and my husband absolutely loved it! he said he felt like he was eating at a thai restaurant because the flavors are so authentically thai. =) thanks so much for sharing this recipe.

  5. struddles says:

    hi connie,

    i was wondering where can you find pandan leaves in manila?

    btw, i just love your site. i’ve learned a lot and my husband loves your recipes. thanks again.

  6. Connie says:

    in most supermarkets. Very cheap around P5 per bunch.

  7. judy n. tansengco says:

    Hi where can i buy powdered coconut cream please. Dinner is never the same again after i discovered your site. You are truly God’s Blessing!

  8. Connie says:

    In the supermarket, Judy. :) Glad you’re enjoying my blog.

Trackbacks

Some related discussions...
  1. [...] had a salad of green mangoes and crisp catfish, a chicken soup with coconut milk and lemon grass, pandan chicken (with deboned whole leg meat), a pork dish similar to our lechon kawali and fried rice with lots of [...]

  2. [...] is a pandan chicken recipe in the archive of my other food blog where the pandan-wrapped chicken were broiled rather than [...]



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