Underwater Chicken
Underwater Chicken
You won’t find underwater chicken on a Thai menu. This dish is typically found in the rural countryside. Some real Thai home cookin. The chicken is marinated in soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar; with the addition of lemongrass, garlic, shallots, and chilies that are individually pounded in a mortar with a pestle. So why is it called underwater chicken? Once the pot you’re cooking the chicken in is hot, add the chicken in with all of the marinade ingredients. Then, place a large enough metal bowl filled with cold water over the pot of chicken. The water needs to be changed out every 20 minutes with more cold water. The water should be scooped out instead of taking the bowl off of the pot. You want to keep the steam in. Once finished, scoop out the chicken with a slotted spoon. Strain the stock of the marinade ingredients and eat with the chicken and steamed rice.Lets talk about the science of what’s happening. The purpose of having a bowl of cold water over the pot of chicken is to create low pressure, the exact opposite of a pressure cooker. The chicken and the marinade are added to a dry pot. As the meat is cooking, it releases it’s natural juices. This why you have to use bone in chicken instead of boneless. Boneless = lack of juices. The juices turn into steam. Instead of covering the pot with a lid allowing the steam to release, the bowl of cold water holds in the steam juices, turning into liquid and dripping back down into the chicken. The steam will only condense if the bowl of water is cold. If the water gets hot, the steam will be escape and there will be no juice condensation. This whole process keeps the pot from burning and creates enough juice to braise in. Science.
Ingredients
- 4 bone in chicken thighs skinned, cut into 3-4 pieces
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 stalk lemongrass pounded in a mortar
- 6 slices galangal pounded in a mortar
- 6 garlic cloves pounded in a mortar
- 1 large shallot pounded in a mortar
- 2 Thai chilies pounded in a mortar
- 6 lime leaves torn
Garnish
- lime leaves julienned
Instructions
- Skin your chicken thighs and cut into 3-4 pieces with a clever. Marinate the chicken with the rest of the ingredients for 30 minutes.
- Heat up a pot over medium heat. Pour in the chicken and all of the marinade.
- Place a bowl of cold water on top of the pot. Change out the water every 20 minutes with more cold water. Scoop it out with a bowl instead of lifting it off of the pot. You want to keep the steam in.
- At 60 minutes, take off the bowl of water.
- Scoop out the chicken with a slotted spoon. Serve with steamed rice. Garnish with julienned lime leaves.
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