For many years I’ve been trying to recreate one of my favourite meals ever. It’s a meal I had many times while travelling in Thailand and Laos back in 2012.

The meal is simple and delicious. BBQ chicken, sticky rice, and som tam (green papaya salad).

Finally, back in July 21, I felt like we’ve perfected the BBQ chicken element of this magical meal. And based on all the feedback we had in the last week when we served this at our Summer Solstice Supper Club, you think this recipe is pretty awesome too!

Here it is….

Serves 4-6

1 Large Chicken
50g Butter
Zest of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic
Chopped herbs (optional)
Seasoning
Drizzle of olive oil

For the BBQ sauce:
3 tablespoon Peanut Butter
3 tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
3 tablespoon Sweet Chilli Sauce
2 tablespoon Sesame Oil
Juice of 1 Lime
Red Chilli, chopped

Remove the wishbone from the chicken. Lift up the skin and locate the wishbone with a jointing knife.

(How to detach a wishbone: Scrape away and flesh until the two sides of the wishbone are visible. Get the knife behind one side and bring the knife down to detach the end of the V from the chicken. Repeat on the other side, then carefully lift up the wishbone to detach at the point of the “V”.)

Preheat the oven to 230*C. Mix the butter with the lime zest, herbs, garlic and seasoning and push under the skin of the breast of the chicken.

Drizzle and rub the skin of the chicken with olive oil and season well. Put in the oven and reduce the heat to 200*C immediately. Cook for 1hr 20min or until cooked, basting half way through.

Once cooked (I would argue that a meat thermometer is a vital bit of kit when roasting a chicken), leave to cool and then joint the chicken ready for BBQing (into breasts, drumsticks & thighs and wings) as soon as it’s cool enough to handle. Once cool, refrigerate the chicken pieces until you’re ready to eat.

When you’re ready to eat, light your BBQ. Mix the ingredients to make the BBQ sauce.

When you’re charcoal is ready, BBQ the chicken pieces over a high heat while basting with the sauce regularly. You want to make sure you reheat the chicken thoroughly and get a beautiful, flavourful char and crispy skin on the outside.

Serve with sticky rice and som tam!

(Don’t forget to strip any remaining meat off your chicken carcass. Make stock with the bones, then use the meat and stock to make a yummy chicken soup! Tom yum anyone?)