Grilled Garam Masala Chicken (燒烤胡荽雞, Siu1 Haau1 Wu4 Seoi1 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 17 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, the Chinese name was added, and hyperlinks fixed.

I used a basic soy sauce marinade and added garam masala powder to grill the whole chicken. Instead of cutting the chicken in half and removing the backbone before grilling, I kept the chicken whole and put it on a “beer can” stand to roast it upright in the barbeque. While I didn’t use a beer can to keep the chicken upright, I have an apparatus that has two rods attached to a pan that keep the chicken standing while being grilled.

The standing chicken is placed in the charcoal grate, without using the grill grate. The barbeque cover can’t be used if the standing chicken is placed on the grill grate in a 22.5 in. (57 cm.) grill, so that’s why the standing chicken is placed on the charcoal grate with the coals arranged around it in a circle. Adding a smoking wood to the grill, such as hickory, mesquite, pecan, or whatever your favorite wood is, further enhances the flavor.

You can look at the Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) recipe for instructions on cutting and arranging a chicken on a platter.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

6 lb.	3 kg.	Whole chicken (雞, gai1)
1 in.	2.5 cm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
4 cloves	4 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
3 Tbs.	45 ml.	Garam masala powder (胡荽, wu4 seoi1)
½ cup	120 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
½ cup	120 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 Tbs.	30 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
		Chicken stand (aka “beer can” stand)
22.5 in.	57 cm.	Covered charcoal or gas grill (or larger)



Chicken Stand

Instructions

1. Prepare the whole chicken by removing any remaining yellow skin and excess fat. Ideally all the yellow skin was removed during the vendor’s chicken cleaning process, but some always remains and this will prevent the marinade from penetrating the skin. Use your fingers and rub any remaining yellow skin from the chicken under running cold water.
2. Marinate the chicken in a covered container up to 48 hours, turning the chicken every 24 hours, in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, garam masala powder, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking and place onto the chicken stand.
3. Prepare the charcoal or gas grill for indirect cooking following the manufacturer’s instructions. Light the charcoal or preheat the gas grill accordingly. If smoking the chicken, soak any wood (oak, hickory, and pecan work well in this recipe) for one hour before cooking if desired. I do not soak and use dry smoking wood.

   

   Grill Arrangement

4. If using a charcoal grill, remove the grill grate (the chicken will be placed directly on the charcoal grate) and arrange the lighted coals around the edges of the charcoal grate, leaving enough room to cook the standing chicken in the middle of the charcoal grate. For a gas grill, follow the manufacturer’s instructions as to which burners to leave on for indirect cooking. Add the wood chunks or chips for smoking.
5. Carefully place the standing chicken onto the charcoal grate grill. Be careful since the standing chicken is being placed into the middle of a circle of hot coals. Cover the barbeque and let cook for 30-40 minutes. The temperature of your fire and previous experience with your grill will determine the total cooking time for the chicken.
6. Remove the chicken from the grill and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

Cutting and Arranging Instructions

See the Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) recipe for detailed instructions on cutting and arranging a chicken on a platter. The following is an outline of the procedure to cut and arrange the chicken on the serving platter.

1. Separate the wing, drumstick-thigh, backbone, and breast from the chicken.
2. Cut the backbone into pieces and arrange the pieces on the serving platter.
3. Separate the drumstick from thigh and cut into pieces. Put the cut pieces onto the serving platter.
4. Repeat the above step for the other drumstick-thigh.
5. Separate the wing into pieces and put the cut pieces onto the serving platter.
6. Repeat the above step for the other wing.
7. Cut through the breast bone and separate the breast into breast halves.
8. Cut the breast halves into pieces and place the pieces on top of the drumstick-thigh pieces on the serving platter.
9. Repeat the above step for the other breast half.