Recipe: Dai Lime Chicken
April 17th, 2013
This bright, spicy, herb-laden dish, sometimes called Ghost Chicken (鬼鸡, “gui ji”) comes from Yinjiang Dai Flavor Restaurant, a very popular Dai restaurant just down the street from our apartment on Luofeng Jie. In Yunnan they make this dish with black-skinned chicken and then leave the skin on for extra flavor and color. To approximate that chicken’s flavor, it’s best to use a free-range bird for this recipe.
2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp ginger, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
5 tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp sawtooth herb, roughly chopped (optional)
2 tbsp fish mint root, cut into 1″ pieces (optional)
2-5 Thai or bird’s eye chiles, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt
juice of 3 limes
Poach the chicken breasts: put the breasts into a pot with just enough water to cover. Season with a pinch of salt and bring to a boil, then cover the pot with a lid, lower the flame, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the stove and allow the chicken to continue to sit in the hot liquid another 20 minutes to continue cooking, then set it aside to cool.
Once the chicken breasts have cooled, remove the skin (if any) and discard, then use your fingers to pull the meat into thin strips. (You should have about two cups of meat.) Toss the chicken with the rest of the ingredients. Taste the chicken, and if the flavor is not strong and piquant, add more lime juice and/or salt as necessary.
Photo: Josh Wand
