Recipe: Marion Grasby’s Lemon, Lime and Bitters Thai Chicken

An unexpected ingredient is key to Marion Grasby’s Thai chicken recipe. “Everyone’s got that bottle of bitters in the liquor cabinet,” says the cook, author and expert in Thai-inspired cuisine. “You don’t think of it as something to cook with. But we know alcohol adds beautiful flavours and complexities, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise.”

This recipe is all about the bitters-infused marinade, which makes it ideal for the home cook. “Marinades are an easy way to up the flavour stakes,” says Grasby. She’s also well aware of time constraints when it comes to making dinner. So while the recipe calls for the chicken to marinate overnight, those rules can be broken. “If I can’t do overnight, two hours will do,” says Grasby. “I’m a mum with two kids, so typically I still only do 10 minutes because it’s all I’ve got.”

Watching the oven (and not just relying on a timer) is the key to success here. “Whenever you’re cooking with a marinade, you have to keep an eye on both heat and how much the marinade is going to char,” says Grasby. “You want to cook the chicken before you’ve got the sugars in your marinade burning too much on the outside.” A little char is perfect, but if things are starting to look too dark before the chicken is ready, she recommends turning the oven right down and finishing it off gently.

To serve, Grasby reduces the marinade to a sticky glaze and serves it with rice and crunchy lettuce. She says it would also be a winner at summer barbeques. “You can either be pulling the chicken apart, shoving it in your lettuce leaf and drizzling with sauce, or you can eat it fork and knife style with your rice”.

This versatile dish is a citrusy, sweet and tangy riff on a Thai classic. “It’s a little bit Thai, a little bit jerk-style,” she says.

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Marion Grasby’s lemon, lime and bitters Thai chicken

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 5 minutes (plus overnight marinating)
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

4 chicken Marylands, cut in half to form 8 pieces
¼ cup white sugar
Thai sticky rice, to serve
Baby cos leaves, to serve
Sea salt

Lemon, lime and bitters marinade

4 makrut lime leaves, destemmed
1 lime (zest and juice)
1 lemon (zest and juice)
3–4 red bird’s-eye chillies
5 garlic cloves
4 coriander roots
1 tbsp grated ginger
4 Asian red shallots, roughly chopped
3 tbsp brown sugar
60ml bitters
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sweet dark soy sauce
1 tsp sea salt

Method

To make lemon, lime and bitters marinade, place all ingredients in a food processor. Blitz to a super fine paste.

Transfer the marinade to a large bowl. Add the chicken. Mix to ensure the chicken pieces are coated all over, then cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 190°C fan-forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place an ovenproof cooking rack on top of the lined tray. Arrange chicken pieces on top of the rack. Cook chicken in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden in colour.

While the chicken is in the oven, pour the leftover marinade into a small saucepan and place over low heat. Add the sugar. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cook for 5 minutes or until the mixture has a sticky jam consistency. Remove from the heat and set aside for later.

Remove the chicken from the oven and drizzle each piece with a little chilli jam mixture. Return the tray to the oven and cook for a further 5–10 minutes, or until the pieces are caramelised.

Serve while warm with sticky rice, baby cos and extra chilli jam on the side.