Gai Prik - Crispy Beer Battered Chicken with Spicy Fish Sauce Glaze

Before Farang there was Smoking Goat, a small restaurant on Denmark Street where I was head chef. Me and my sous chef Gino put on a dish of chicken wings sous vided until the bones were edible, then battered, fried and glazed in this same glaze. That dish became iconic for Smoking Goat and in some ways still is.

When it came to opening Farang I didn't want to copy it. Same same but different, as they say in Thailand. So Gai Prik was born - free range, boneless, skinless chicken thighs, beer battered and hit with the same glaze. It went on the menu on day one and has never come off. We sell around 35kg of it a week. For a dish with this few ingredients that's a decent endorsement.

Gai Prik roughly translates as chicken spicy. It's a proper mishmash - British beer batter meets Thai fried chicken in an intensely umami glaze built from palm sugar, fish sauce and lime. The kind of thing that doesn't belong neatly in either tradition and is better for it.

The beer in the batter matters a bit but not as much as keeping it cold. Singha is what we use - it's light and clean and doesn't add much flavour of its own, which is what you want. Any cold lager works fine. The colder the better. On a hot day keep a few ice cubes in the batter to maintain the temperature while you're frying.

On deep frying at home - people overthink it. Use a wok, fill it halfway with oil, heat it up, use a slotted spoon and a tray lined with parchment to drain. Strain the oil when you're done and keep it for next time. It takes minutes to set up and the results are worth it. An air fryer works too but you'll need to adjust times and temperatures and the batter behaves differently.

The burnt chilli sauce from Payst is what we serve alongside this at Farang. It's not a hot sauce in the traditional sense - more sweet, smoky, salty and a little sour. It was one of the first things we bottled and it's won awards since. Worth having a jar in the fridge permanently.

Gai Prik - Beer Battered Chicken with Fish Sauce Glaze

Serves: 4 Prep: 15 minutes plus 30 minutes resting Cook: 20 minutes Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

For the chicken and batter

• 600g free range chicken thigh fillets, boneless and skinless, cut into 3cm pieces

• 150g plain flour, plus 100g extra for dusting

• 150g tempura flour

• 200ml cold Singha beer (or any cold lager)

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp sea salt

• Vegetable oil for deep frying

For the glaze

• 100g palm sugar, roughly chopped

• 60ml fish sauce

• 2 limes, juiced

• 2 bird's eye chillies, finely chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

To serve

• 4 shallots, finely sliced and fried until crispy

• 2 bird's eye chillies, finely sliced

• Fresh mint leaves

• Fresh coriander leaves

• Payst burnt chilli sauce

Method

1. Mix the 150g plain flour, tempura flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the cold beer until you have a smooth batter. Keep it cold - a couple of ice cubes in the bowl helps on a warm day.

2. Dust the chicken pieces in the remaining 100g plain flour with a generous pinch of salt. Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. For the glaze, melt the palm sugar in a small saucepan until liquid. Add the fish sauce, lime juice, chillies and garlic and simmer for around 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Keep warm.

4. Fill a wok halfway with vegetable oil and heat to 180°C. Dip the floured chicken pieces into the batter and fry in batches for 4-5 minutes until golden and crispy. Don't overcrowd the wok - it drops the oil temperature and makes the batter greasy. Drain on a parchment-lined tray.

5. Toss the hot chicken in the warm glaze straight away and transfer to a serving plate. Top with crispy shallots, sliced chilli, fresh mint and coriander. Serve immediately with burnt chilli sauce alongside.

Chef's notes

Don't let the fried chicken sit before glazing - it needs to go straight from the oil into the glaze while it's still hot and crispy.

Crispy shallots keep well in an airtight container for a couple of weeks. Make a big batch while you have the oil hot and use them across other dishes through the week.

Strain and keep your frying oil - it's good for several rounds before it needs changing.

The burnt chilli dipping sauce is available for next day delivery at payst.co.uk. More recipes at faranglondon.co.uk.