Thai Southern-Style Deep-Fried Chicken

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Thai Southern-Style Deep-Fried Chicken

Gai Tod Hat Yai ไก่ทอดหาดใหญ่ 

Serves 2 Cooks in 30 Minutes Marinating 3 Hours Difficulty EASY

I am so excited to share this one with you — Gai Tod Hat Yai, one of the most famous fried chicken dishes in all of Thailand! This recipe comes from Hat Yai, a lively city in the deep south near the Malaysian border, where legend says it was first created by a poultry seller and his wife in the 1950s who didn’t want to waste their unsold chickens. They started frying the leftover birds, and when they began serving them with crispy fried shallots, people couldn’t get enough — and a Thai classic was born.

What makes this chicken so special is the marinade: garlic, coriander root, toasted cumin and coriander seeds, and a touch of soy, all pounded together the traditional way in a mortar and pestle. The chicken marinates for a good few hours, so it soaks up every bit of that flavour before it’s fried until deeply golden and crispy. It’s the kind of dish you’ll find at street stalls all over southern Thailand, and I wanted to bring a little bit of that here for you to try at home.

Give it a go, and don’t forget the sticky rice — it’s the perfect match!

Ingredients

  • 1kg chicken legs, scored both sides
  • 6 shallots
  • 2 coriander roots, sliced
  • 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp black pepper corns
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 4 tbsp tempura flour
  • 1 tsp chicken stock
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp dark soy sauce
  • 75ml water
  • 500ml oil
Ingredients for Thai Southern-Style Deep-Fried Chicken
What you will need

Method

Marinating the chicken
Marinating the chicken
  1. Roast the coriander and cumin seeds in a small frying pan. Then smash to a powder in a pestle and mortar, then remove and keep to one side.
  2. Smash the garlic, coriander roots and black peppercorns in a pestle and mortar.
  3. In a mixing bowl, add the roasted seed powder, the garlic, coriander roots and black pepper corns along with the stock, sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, tempura flour and water. Mix really well until all the ingredients are combined.
  4. Smash the shallots with the flat side of a knife and add these to the mixture.
  5. Add the chicken and mix well so all of the chicken is coated. Cover and leave to marinate for at least three hours in the fridge. Overnight would be even better.
  6. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan and fry the chicken on both sides until it turns a nice golden colour with crispy skin.

To Serve

Serve with sticky rice

Hope you enjoy my Gai Tod Hat Yai. Khop Khun Ka from Apple 🍎 Riverside Thai Cooking in Khao Lak.