Red curry of whole baby chicken & minced prawns with sweet basil & Asian vegetables

This one has been a strong favourite from customers since even the pop-up days of Farang, the whole roast chicken screams ‘roast dinner’, when marinated in a spicy red curry it screams even louder ‘Farang’. Sharing food and enjoying the experience ‘family style’ is how it’s done in Thailand and this dish is built to share so get stuck in. I’ve always used baby chicken in the restaurant to make this as they are perfect for sharing between two, however it works deliciously with larger chickens if you adjust the cooking times to suit. It’s a simple way to infuse the whole chicken with the flavours of the red curry. Serve this carved up in front of friends or family with bowls of rice and no one will be disappointed. Like in this recipe, you can cook the chicken straight away however for a fuller flavour, leave the chicken marinating in red curry paste overnight before roasting.

Serves: 2
Dietary: Gluten-Free

Ingredients

• 1 baby chicken, roughly 250-300g

• 200g red curry paste (for best results, make it yourself—recipe in my book ‘Cook Thai’)

• 1 tablespoon palm sugar

• 50g prawns, shells and heads removed, de-veined, minced using a meat cleaver (keep the heads and prawns to one side)

• 20g baby corn, sliced into thin roll-cuts

• 2 long red chillies, sliced into roll cuts

• 2 long green chillies, sliced into roll cuts

• 20g green beans, topped and tailed, cut into 2cm long chunks

• 400ml prawn stock (recipe tells you how to make this using the prawn heads)

• 150ml coconut oil (vegetable oil can be used instead but is not as tasty)

• 500ml thick coconut cream

• 2 tablespoons wild ginger (krachai), peeled and thinly sliced (regular ginger will work too)

• 10g Thai basil, picked

• 10g coriander, washed and picked

• 2-3 tablespoons fish sauce, to taste

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Method

1. Prepare the Prawn Stock: Gather all the prawn heads you collected and add them to 500ml of water. Bring this to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Skim any scum off the surface and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain to produce a light prawn stock.

2. Cook the Curry Paste: Heat the coconut oil in a wok. Once bubbling, add the red curry paste, stirring and scraping regularly until the paste begins to split like scrambled eggs. The aroma will shift from raw to a fragrant, combined flavour. Add the palm sugar and continue to cook for another minute until the paste darkens slightly. Add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and cook into the paste for one minute.

3. Marinate the Chicken: Add 200ml of prawn stock and 300ml of coconut cream to the curry paste. Remove half of this curry paste and allow it to cool. Once cool, coat the chicken thoroughly with the seasoned and cooked curry paste. Marinate for a few hours, ideally overnight, or cook straight away.

4. Roast the Chicken: Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roast the chicken in a roasting tray, covered with tin foil, for 35-40 minutes until the skin is bubbling, steaming, and the marinade is slightly charred. Remove the foil and return to the oven for 10 minutes to crisp the skin. Ensure the juices run clear and the chicken is hot throughout before removing. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.

5. Finish the Curry: Return the remaining cooked curry paste to a simmer. Add the green beans and baby corn, stir, cover, and simmer for around five minutes until the vegetables are cooked. Add the remaining prawn stock and coconut cream, then the minced prawns. Cook for 3 minutes until the prawns turn pink. Add Thai basil, chilli roll-cuts, fish sauce to taste, and sliced krachai. Fold these ingredients in and serve immediately.

Serving Suggestion: Serve the chicken whole with the prawn and vegetable curry over the top. Garnish with a few sprigs of Thai basil for decoration and serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the dish! If you try it out, do let me know your thoughts (unless you don’t like it, in which case, keep it to yourself!). Hopefully, I'll see you at Farang soon for a bite.