Thai Sticky Lime Roast Chicken With Pan Sauce

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180C (360F). Put the squeezed lime halves in the chicken cavity w/the whole garlic cloves, half the chilli, half the ginger & the coriander stalks. Place the chicken in a roasting pan & roast for 1 hr.

Step 2

While the chicken is roasting, make the sticky glaze. Add the remaining garlic, chilli, ginger, brown sugar & fish sauce to the lime juice & use a hand blender to blitz until smooth. Transfer to a small pan & reduce until thick enough to coat the chicken.

Step 3

When the chicken has been cooking for 1 hr, put some water into the bottom of the pan. Pour half the glaze over the chicken & continue to roast for 45 mins more, covering w/foil if it starts to brown too quickly. When cooked, remove the roasted chicken to a serving platter & allow it to rest.

Step 4

Pour the juices from the roasting pan (discarding any fat) into the rest of the glaze & pour into a small pan. Simmer over low-heat & taste, adding more sugar or fish sauce if needed.

Step 5

Serve the chicken w/the cucumber & spring onions plus the sauce to the side.

NOTE #1 - Re yield: The recipe said 4 servings, but a 4 1/2 lb chicken split 4 ways would make 4 VERY LRG servings, so I revised that slightly to 4-6 servings. I honestly feel we could all use our judgment about the size of chicken & # of servings based on our cooking experience.

NOTE #2 - Pouring the glaze over the chicken likely sends most of the glaze flavor(s) to the bottom of the pan instead of the chicken where it belongs. I'd suggest using a pastry brush to liberally apply the glaze over all the chicken surfaces, maybe 2-3 times before continuing to roast for the extra time.