Kao Mok Gai

This is another recipe from the excellent book of authentic Thai recipes from the Australian David Thompson, and it turned out quite well, just as my beautiful Bride wanted and remembered, in other words, a dish she liked from Thailand. And I like it too, it's quite tasty. This recipe, being authentic, calls for Thai cardamom, which is white in colour, round and less pungent (use the green cardamom if you can't find it, we did); you can roast them by heating them in a dry frying pan until they turn fragrant. Cassia is very similar to cinnamon, use either one, but cinnamon is more common here; you can find cassia in Chinese supermarkets. Lastly, use bay leaves if you can't find cassia leaves.

Kao Mok Gai
adapted from a recipe from Thai Food by David Thompson
4 chicken thighs, each cut into 3 pieces (or 3 chicken legs)
oil for deep-frying
10 red shallots, sliced
pinch of salt
3 cups jasmine rice, rinsed and drained
4 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves (or cassia leaves)
1 small piece cinnamon bark, roasted (or cassia)
2 cardamom pods, roasted (use Thai cardamom if you can find)
Paste:
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp chopped ginger
1 Tbsp chopped turmeric
1 tsp coriander seeds, roasted
1 tsp cumin seeds, roasted
seeds of 2 cardamom pods, roasted (use Thai cardamom if you can find)
2 cloves, roasted
1 cm piece cinnamon bark, roasted (or cassia bark)

First make the paste: gradually pound the ingredients together using a pestle and mortar, adding one by one, until smooth. Marinate the chicken in this paste for a few hours.

Heat oil in a pot and deep-fry the shallots, remove and then deep-fry the chicken. Combine shallots, salt and chicken with rice and add sufficient stock to cover to a depth of the first joint of your index finger; bring to the boil. Cover pot and turn down heat to very low. When rice is cooked (about 20-25 minutes), so should the chicken be. Add bay leaves, cinnamon bark and cardamom pods and leave to infuse for 5 minutes before serving.