Bang bang chicken platter with satay sauce

Serves: 5
Course: Main Course
Cooking Time: 2 hrs 0 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken
  • 1 stick lemongrass
  • Large knob ginger, very roughly chopped
  • 1 lemon, cut in half
  • 1 bunch spring onions
  • Sesame seeds
  • Cucumber, cut into sticks
  • Chillies and coriander to garnish
  • FOR THE SATAY SAUCE
  • 250g nut butter (I used crunchy peanut)
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp tamari or light soy sauce
  • Juice of 2 and a half limes
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 50ml hot water

First, poach the chicken by covering it in cold water to which you have added the lemongrass, ginger and lemon, and simmer it for one hour. Leave it to sit in the water for another hour, then remove it from the water, tear off and discard the skin, and tear the chicken into generous shards of tender meat. I recommend keeping the bones and boiling them up in the remaining stock until it’s reduced by half. Then strain and reduce further to create a tasty broth. Make the satay sauce in a blender. Blitz together all the ingredients except the hot water, which you add gradually while the blender is on, to create a smooth dipping sauce. To serve, pour the sauce into a pretty bowl and, on a large platter, surround it with the chicken, cucumber sticks and spring onions, or your choice of vegetables. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and garnish with coriander leaves and whole chillies.

Domini Kemp

Domini Kemp

Domini Kemp, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a chef and food writer