Smoky, understated Asian flavors: Grilled Coconut Chicken Thighs

Noisy-sounding marinade ingredients—coconut milk, lime juice, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce—produce surprisingly subtle, delicious grilled chicken. Recipe below.

THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY. That’s a line from the Robert DeNiro film Ronin that Marion and I have made part of our lexicon. We’ve quoted it here, in fact, some years ago. I requote it now because if you think of a recipe as a map—and I do—it seems appropriate with this dish. The chicken was delicious, moist and subtly flavored, but it did not taste like the recipe sounded.

After you’ve been cooking for a while, you get a sense of being able to read the map and figure out where the dish will go flavorwise. This dish surprised me with its restrained finish.

To be fair, the chicken thighs were supposed to be pork chops. And I researched more than a few recipes (pork and chicken), causing me to tinker even more with ingredients and measurements. But cooking with coconut milk, fresh ginger, loads of garlic, lime juice and fish sauce, I expected bigger flavor than I ended up with, more overtly Asian. (It was based on Cambodian and Thai recipes.) Still, the subtle flavors play nicely with the smoke of the grill. When I try it again, I may use pork chops—and maybe marinate it longer.

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Grilled Coconut Chicken Thighs

Noisy-sounding marinade ingredients—coconut milk, lime juice, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce—produce surprisingly subtle, delicious grilled chicken.

Course Main Course, Poultry

Cuisine Asian-inspired

Servings 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 4 to 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 generous tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, 6 – 8 ounces each
• freshly ground black pepper and salt, as needed
• thinly sliced scallions for garnish

Instructions

• Marinate the chicken. Mix all ingredients up through the coriander in a bowl. Trim the chicken thighs of excess fat and place in a zippered one-gallon plastic bag. Pour the marinade over the chicken and seal the bag, making sure all the chicken is coated with the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 8 hours (I did 3, having seen 2 to 8 hours, and now think longer is better).
• About half an hour before you're ready to put the chicken on the grill, take it out of the fridge to come to room temperature. When the grill is ready, remove chicken from marinade, shaking off the excess. Pat thighs dry with paper toweling and season generously with black pepper.
• Grill the chicken. Prepare your grill for indirect grilling. If you use charcoal, arrange coals on one side of the grill. (If you use a gas grill, do whatever you do for indirect grilling.) Lightly oil the grate.
• Place the chicken on the grill away from the coals, skin side up. Cover the grill and cook for about 10 minutes. This will cook off some of the fat under the skin, reducing flareups when you cook over the direct heat. Move chicken over the coals, skin side down, cover grill and cook until nicely browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip chicken skin side up over coals, cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Move chicken back away from coals, skin side up. Cover and cook until a quick-read thermometer registers 165ºF when inserted in the thickest part of a thigh (being careful to avoid the bone). The timing here is anyone’s guess, which is why the thermometer is an invaluable tool. Start checking after 5 or so minutes, but don’t be surprised if it takes a good deal longer.
• Transfer chicken to a platter and sprinkle with scallions. Serve. Have salt at the ready, if needed—I used reduced-sodium soy sauce and did, in fact, need it.