The title may be hesitant in tone, but I am saying this with no ambivalence: if you would cook from only one of my recipes, be sure it’s this one.
My maternal grandmother made this stew for us quite often. Back then, all I cared about, sadly, was eating it, not learning how to make it. In contrast to my mother who wrote down more than she should have, Grandma never wrote down any recipes anywhere and, unless I was there when she made certain dishes, I never learned what went into them. My attempt to get a written down recipe from Grandma would have been futile anyway given the way she cooked. I can imagine how our conversation would have gone:
Leela: “Did we add enough sugar, Khun Yai?”
Grandma: “Well, is it sweet enough?”
Leela: “Any more fish sauce?”
Grandma: “Is it salty enough?”
(Sigh …) That’s my very Socratic grandmother — teaching with questions, answering questions with more questions. If we had a Thai version of Jeopardy growing up, Grandma would have been one formidable contestant. But to be fair to Grandma, nobody in her generation, or those before hers, really cooked with recipes anyway. It is all about learning by observation for Thai women in the old days. Back then, you hang out in the kitchen, you learn. You don’t hang out in the kitchen, let’s hope you marry well and can afford to hire many culinarily-talented maids.
So ever since I came to the US, I have been making this dish based on nothing but the memory of what it tasted like when Grandma made it. The first several attempts yielded mixed results, but I think I’ve finally nailed it. The only thing that bothers me is that I don’t know the name of the dish or whether it even has one. It isn’t a traditional Thai dish. It isn’t a curry or one of the Chinese “red-cooked” dishes. It isn’t one of the “western” dishes we sometimes made either. It is different. And it is very yellow. I remember asking Grandma once what kind of chicken stew this was. Socrates paused for a bit, then turned around and answered, with a question, “Burmese?” This time her question wasn’t didactic; she actually wasn’t sure.
I think she might have been right. Grandma had lived in a few places outside of Bangkok, our hometown, and sometimes the influence of regional cuisines, especially the northern cuisine, could be detected in her home cooking. And since the northern Thai cuisine is known to be influenced by Burmese cuisine, the idea of this curried stew being Burmese in origin is not too far-fetched. But it doesn’t matter. Burmese or not, I’ve never called this chicken stew anything but “the Yellow Chicken.”
Before we get to how to make “the Yellow Chicken,” here are some remarks I’d like to make:
- The amounts of fresh ginger and garlic called for may terrify you, but you just have to trust me. The ginger and garlic get slow-cooked along with the chicken and eventually turn mild, meltingly soft, and sweet. But if you’re extremely sensitive to the spiciness of fresh ginger, you may want to rinse your julienned ginger before adding it to the stew.
- Use fresh ginger and garlic only. No substitutes. No shortcuts. No whining.
- The ginger needs to be julienned and the garlic thinly sliced crosswise. This is because 1. Grandma did it this way, and 2. I once tried to save time and energy by pulsing the ginger and garlic in a food processor and the stew became a goopy mess with the taste of garlic and ginger being too overpowering.
- Use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for best results. You can use boneless chicken, but it won’t be as flavorful due to the absence of the bones. I figured a cut-up whole fryer would do. But I do not recommend boneless, skinless chicken breast.
- Be careful when cooking with turmeric. Once it gets on your light-colored shirt, it’s there for eternity and a day. Want to see the white gossamer top I wore last time I made/ate this?
- 8 medium bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (approximately 3 lbs)
- One whole head of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (approximately ½ cup, lightly packed)
- Fresh ginger, peeled, sliced, and julienned (approximately 2 cups, lightly packed)
- One medium white or yellow onion, roughly sliced
- ¼ cup dark soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce or 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ cup Chinese cooking wine or brandy
- 2 tablespoons ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup water
- Set a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the chicken thigh, skin side down. Leave the chicken alone until you get a good sear on the skin side.
- In the meantime, quickly whisk together the remaining ingredients except the ginger, garlic, and onion.
- Once the chicken is browned on the skin side (it doesn’t have to be cooked through), flip them so that the skin side is now on top. Drain off the excess fat.
- Sprinkle the julienned ginger and sliced garlic on top of the chicken and pour the seasoning mixture over the chicken. Reduce the heat to medium and close the lid. Forget it for about 20 minutes.
- Add the sliced onion into the skillet, close the lid, and let the stew cook for another 20 minutes.
- Serve warm over steamed rice.
That stew looks scrumptious. I love it how back then they never really used measurements. Just went by taste alone. You did a nice job recreating this dish.
Wow, this dish looks so good the picture sells it, but your additional commentary synched it – I must make. Thanks so much for sharing these foods that are handed down in the family are all the more special as a result.
PS – love your non food blog selections, I read them too and am linked to them on my business blog.
Sometimes I forget that turmeric makes everything yellow. Just one splash and my plain white tee is ruined.
Will keep the ginger and garlic slicing in mind. I also tend to do the food processor thing because of laziness.
I am tempted to try this. Do you think mixed cuts of bone-in, skin-in chicken will work? Not just thighs?
The family stories behind meals are what we love, love, love. If there’s one thing grandmas do, it’s cook by taste. No recipes for them. It sounds great, and of course the tumeric is a great addition. Would saffron do?
Hi sra – yes, a cut-up whole chicken definitely works. It’s just that I don’t care much for the white meat when it comes to slow-cooked dishes. I could have used thighs and drumsticks as well, but by the time the thighs are perfectly cooked, the drumsticks have already fallen apart. So I took the easy route by using only the thighs.
Hi Chrystal and/or Amir – I have come to associate the taste and aroma of turmeric with this dish, but I figured saffron would do quite nicely. That’s a very interesting idea. I wish it was as inexpensive as turmeric.
It looks perfect with steamed rice. I have not tried this before, I am sure.
I made this yesterday night and it was really good! Surprisingly good! The simple ingredients list really belies the fantastic flavour combination. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Cynthia – Glad you liked it. Thanks so much for the report!
Hi Leela. I just found you (yes, I live under a rock) & love everything! Your writing voice, your photos, your recipes, everything!! I’m half Thai on my mother’s side & getting a “recipe” out of her is quite the challenge. But b/c of that, I know I’m a decent cook. I will try this recipe very soon & report back–I tried something similar at a restaurant & have wanted to recreate it for ages. But it’s not a family dish so I couldn’t turn to my mom. Sorry for the long comment…I’m just so excited!
I made this dish tonight, as I thought it would be a refreshing change from plain ‘ol chicken and curried rice. To say it was good, would be an understatement. It came out wonderfully, and I’ll definitely be preparing it again! Thanks so much for sharing … I loved it!
Joan – Thanks for the report.
Glad you liked it.
Oh, boy, was this fabulous. I think I may have gotten a touch too much soy sauce, and maybe the julienned ginger wasn’t quite thin enough that it wasn’t perfect fresh out of the pan, but the next day it was even better. Also, I had a lot of gravy left over and it seemed a crime to waste it, so I used it for the next week, simmering various chicken parts until totally tender. Wonderful! I’ll definitely make this again and again.
Joel – Oh, good to hear! Thanks for the report. Sometimes, if the ginger is mature, it can be pretty strong. Best way to deal with that is to julienne it a little more finely and rinse the julienned ginger in water (squeezing it dry with your hand as you go) a couple of times before adding it to the stew.
I came across this recipe from an article on Tumeric. It sounded great and the comments convinced me to make it the first chance I got.
Well, I followed carefully, and agree the dish smelled fantastic! Until my first bite – it was so bitter that I couldn’t eat it, neither could my husband. I found the ginger to be incredibly bitter, not sweet, and the 2T did seem a little much. Sorry to have to say it – but could I have done something wrong??
Anon – Oh, sorry to hear. Other than using ginger that is too mature or blue-ish in color (old and semi-rotten), I can’t think of anything you could have done wrong. Still, the ginger shouldn’t taste bitter. Hot, maybe. But not bitter. Unless it’s used in conjunction with garlic that contains green germ inside.
And the 2 tablespoons of turmeric is just what other people and I like. I think what happens is that you may not be used to Southeast Asian dishes that use lots of fresh herbs and spices and are seasoned in this manner. It’s not meant for everyone; that’s for sure.
aha – green germ? I think the garlic did have a green center
Leela, I, too, have found this post and your most delightful blog through the Mercola site, and I, too, have made this turmeric stew. My experience has been completely different from the experience of the person who commented earlier. This is one of the most flavorful dishes I have ever tasted. I have to admit that I was scared when I saw how much ginger went into the pot, but in the end everything melded together beautifully. This is definitely a keeper.
Here’s my guess on what might have caused the bitterness. About half way through the cooking, I noticed that the cornstarch and the spices have formed a crust at the bottom of the pot and it looked like if I didn’t do something, that crust would burn. Lowering the heat wasn’t an option since the mixture was barely simmering as it was. So I added a little more water to the stew and scraped some of the goo off the bottom of the pot. That might be what happened to the person who posted the comment before me. Just a guess.
Anyway, thank you very much for sharing your grandmother’s recipe with us. I think your site is by far the most intelligently written site on Thai cuisine I have ever come across. I just love your writing style, wit, recipes, and photography skill. Please keep up the good work.
Ben
Oh, and the reason I was thinking of the crust at the bottom of the post might be the culprit is because I personally don’t believe that the green part of garlic causes bitterness as many TV chefs often claim. I could be wrong, but I think Harold McGee has addressed that issue somewhere.
Made this for dinner tonight. Used fresh turmeric – which worked well.
BVD – Thanks so much for the report.
I stumbled across this blog when I was looking for a peanut sauce recipe (which I haven’t tried yet, but plan on making this weekend!). I’ve always been intimidated to try cooking Thai dishes, but this looked delicious and simple. I cut the recipe in half, and I’ve been enjoying the leftovers all week. This will most certainly be in my fridge regularly, and I’m browsing for more recipes to try. Thanks for sharing such a delicious family recipe!
I just made this tonight (after a week of thinking about it!) and oh my goodness! The chicken was soooo flavorful and the sauce on the rice was heaven. Spicy, delicious heaven. My husband agrees and I will probably make this very often! Thanks for posting the recipe, and for including such a touching tribute to your grandmother.
I made this tonight, and wanted you to know that we loved it! Mine turned out dark brown, not yellow at all, probably because of the brand of premium dark soy sauce that I used. I’m pretty sure that it tasted as intended though. Thanks.
HOW MUCH DO I NEED IF I USE FRESH TUMERIC?
Anon – You can take a 2-inch piece of fresh turmeric, pound it into a paste, and use that instead of ground turmeric. Personally, though, I much prefer ground turmeric. This is the case of fresh not necessarily being better.
I have been dying to make this recipe since I returned from Thailand a month ago. This dish was my favourite whilst I was living there. I’m not much of a cook and I just finished eating my first attempt and it was DELICIOUS almost identical in taste to the ones I had in Thailand! i’m so happy
Many Thanks, Fran
Fran – Glad you like it, although I’m positive the dish you had in Thailand is called Kaeng Hang Lay which is similar to this, but more complex and often made with fatty cuts of pork.
This chicken stew will give you something similar to KHL, but, as you’ve rightly noticed, is not the same.
Love cooking this recipe.
My beautiful wife is chinese so I use pork rashers (like 2 cm wide bacon rashers – that’s what they are called in Australia). A little extra sugar and light instead of dark soy and 1 1/2 hours cooking time is the only change.
My 2 little kids think this is the best.
I will look out for Kaeng Hang Lay when I am in Thailand next year and compare…
David, thanks for the report! But don’t compare this dish with KHL; they’re not the same. Apples and oranges.
Great favor and easy to make. I have cooked it many times for friends while in Thailand along with some of your other dishes. It even impressed some of my Thai friends. Thanks for sharing your recipes. I now returned to NZ from living 6 months in Hua Hin and also traveling around most of Thailand. Beautiful country and enjoyed the great fresh food. I hope to return soon.
I just made this tonight! I’m afraid I chickened out and only used half the ginger (next time, the whole amount!) – oh my goodness it’s delicious. Considering how the Fesenjan turned out (great the first night and so good as leftovers I almost wept) I think tomorrow’s dinner is going to knock my socks off.
I think I’m going to be trying all your recipes, which is daunting considering how many there are.
Thank you!
Houston, we have a problem… tried to do this stew, but 2 tbs turmeric are definitely way too much. It came out brown and fairly bitter – still edible, but next time I will try with 2 teaspoons and add more if it’s not yellow enough…
BTW, for those that work with weight rather than volume: 1 bulb/head of garlic is between 50 and 60 grams, so I used 220 grams of peeled ginger (~1/2 lb), and the ginger and garlic amount seemed just fine.
Stumbled on your site while looking for how to make pad thai properly… and saw that you said this is the one dish to try!
We did so tonight…. living in the Caribbean so its hard to get ground coriander… but otherwise this was just delightful!
Thanks for the great recipe… and the painstaking details that must be completed to make it turn out the way it should! (who would have thought I would have consumed so many slices of julienned ginger!)
Cheers.
I bet this would be great with Guinea fowl too! Thank you Leela.
I made this recipe, and Leela, it is delicious!
This was wonderful! As a matter of fact, unbelievably good!
Made this for dinner tonight. It’s WONDERFUL! This recipe is going into my “must keep” recipe book… Thank you!
I live in Bangkok and I just returned from a visit to my Thai boyfriend’s home in Nakohn Sri Thammarat. While there his sister served a clear soup with chicken feet and small bits of chicken in it. I think it may also have contained garlic and yellow onion but definitely did not have any ginger strips. It was very yellow, and she said it was a classic dish flavored with turmeric. I would love to make it as a surprise for my boyfriend (otherwise I would ask him to call her…) but after an extensive internet search I still can’t find it. Any idea what this might be? Thanks for your help!
Donna – Could be kai tom khamin (ไก่ต้มขมิ้น), based on that description.