cook oriental food and buy authentic Asian ingredients online Thai Chicken Fried Hat Yai Style,  "Gai Tod Hatyai"


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When chicken is fried this way, it comes out dry rather than greasy. The secret is to cook the chicken two times--first at low heat, then again at high heat. This kind of fried chicken is so tasty when served with sweet chilli sauce. The coating is fragrant and delicious, and it's called "Hat Yai" which is a province in Southern Thailand. If you like fried chicken, give this Thai-style version a try.

Ingredients
15 chicken wings
1 whole head garlic
2 teaspoon coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder
6 tablespoons fish sauce
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup rice flour
Sweet chilli sauce for dipping

Method
In a mortar & pestle, pound peeled garlic. Add coriander seed and pound the mixture into a smooth paste. Add Thai pepper powder, and pound together in the mortar.

Separately, in a large mixing bowl, stab your chicken wings with a fork. Transfer the spice paste to the bowl of chicken. Add fish sauce and sugar, and knead it all together well with your hands. Place this in a ziploc bag for best results. Marinade it in the fridge for at leaste 2 hours, more if you prefer.

Remove from fridge and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle rice flour all over the wings. Mix well to coat the wings.

In a saucepot, heat several cups of vegetable oil to medium/low. If the oil is too hot, the skin of your wings will brown too early. It may take some practice. Add a few wings to the oil and fry at low heat for 12-15 minutes. The wings should be golden brown. Remove the wings and set aside to drain, and cool a bit.

Next, increase the heat of your oil to high. Fry each piece again, just 2-3 minutes. The wings will turn a darker brown and nice and crispy.  Remove from oil, serve with a generous side of sweet chilli sauce, and Enjoy!
Spices for the marinade Pound into a paste
Marinade the wings Add rice flour
Fry at low heat 12-15 min Golden brown fried chicken
Fry again at high heat Crispy dry fried chicken
Be sure to serve with sweet chilli sauce It's so delicious this way

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March 22nd, 2010 4:04 PM

Howard said:

I tried your Gai Tod Hatyai and my family was very disappointed. They would not eat this recipe because it appeared burned to them and I was out $14.00 in chicken wings. When you use an excess of sugar in a fried food marinade or coating, all it does is make the coating more chewy and under high temperature, in oil or on the BBQ, the sugar carbonizes and turns black.

You need to re-think the addition of sugar in this recipe especially if you are going to raise the temperature at the very last. The sugar, raising the temperature, and the rice flour is not needed. Dusting with 50 flour and cornstarch will give a much better crispy coating at 325F. Also, add some garlic, fish sauce, lime, sambal oelek, and chinese parsley (cilantro) to the sweet chili sauce to kick it up a notch.

All of your other recipes are great. They are good bases for fusion with other cuisines. I am especially taken with the Por Kwan Tom Yum Paste. There are so many things that you can do with this product other than make soup. Why don't you pull the sugar out of the Hat Yai chicken and replace it with Tom Yum Paste. Mmmmmm.

March 23nd, 2010 11:09 AM

Howard said:

Last night, I made the recipe again.  I eliminated the sugar, used white AND black pepper (the black you taste first, then the white), added (2+)Tbsp Por Kwan Brand Tom Yum Paste, added 1/4C oil, and (1)tbsp paprika.  I also made the recipe by using only chicken wing drumettes that I cut around the bone about 1/3 up from the end and pulled the meat away from the bone and over the top so that they look like a little umbrella.  Half of the drumettes I rolled in rice flour and the rest in 50/50 flour and cornstarch.  I fried them at 325F for 10 minutes covered and then 8-10 minutes uncovered. I served them with the sweet chili sauce and plenty of fresh cilantro and basil leaves. Try this and see what you think.

I really think that sugar should be used in dishes AFTER the high heat part of food preparation.  For years, I have been battling with the burned sugar that you get on teriyaki chicken on the BBQ.  In this case, I took a lead from the Koreans.  I first cut slices to the bone in the chicken pieces for quicker cooking.  Boneless breasts I cut half way through on either side so they open up much like an accordian.  The marinade (after Sam Choy) is made with very little sugar and then I paint on the sweet teriyaki sauce (Halm's Bar-B-Que Sauce Korean Style) after the chicken comes off the grill.  Same technique with Kal Bi.  Devastating! .

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