Thai explosion II

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This delicate, compact chicken and red curry canapé from Nuno Mendes is a powerhouse of Thai flavours and looks beautiful sandwiched between its coconut tuiles.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Chicken skin

Coconut tuiles

Thai soup

Thai chicken mousse

Quail's eggs

Equipment

  • Food processor or blender
  • Baking parchment
  • 3 x 10cm square plastic moulds

Method

1
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
2
Scrape any excess fat from the uncooked chicken skins. Place the chicken skin between 2 sheets of baking parchment and between two baking trays. Bake for 15 minutes or until crisp
3
Cut the crispy chicken skin into 3cm squares
4
Reduce the oven temperature to 140°C/gas mark 1
5
To make the coconut tuiles, in a food processor, combine the flour, coconut and sugar and transfer to a large bowl
6
Fold the egg whites and melted butter into the flour mixture
7
Spread the mixture into 10 x small 3cm square plastic moulds, sprinkle with togarashi and bake in the oven for 18 minutes. Remove from the heat then carefully remove the tuiles from the moulds
  • 1 pinch of togarashi
8
For the Thai soup, sweat the chopped fennel and onion, the lemongrass, lime leaves and curry paste in a large saucepan, over a low heat for 4-5 minutes
9
Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and reduce by half
  • 100ml of chicken stock
10
Add the coconut milk and reduce by half
11
Season to taste with the sugar, salt, fish sauce and lime juice
12
Preheat the oven to 65°C-80°C/Gas mark 1/4
13
Take the skin off the chicken thighs and combine the meat with the red curry paste
14
Chop the lemongrass and lime leaves finely, and grate the ginger. In a small bowl, combine the lemongrass, lime leaves, ginger and oil. Combine this mixture with the chicken thighs
15
Bake the chicken for 8 hours
16
When the chicken has cooled, chop the meat finely
17
In a bowl, season the meat to taste with the lime juice, fish sauce and salt
18
Add the chopped coriander and up to 200ml of the Thai soup, adding a little at at time until the chicken is a consistency that will hold its shape as a mousse
19
Gently place the quail's eggs in a small saucepan of boiling water and boil for 2 minutes
20
Drain and rinse the eggs under a cold tap until cool. Peel and slice in half lengthways
21
To serve, for each canapé, place 1 tsp of the Thai mousse on a square of chicken skin
22
Make a hole in the mousse for the egg half, place it in and cover with a coconut tuile
23
Push the displaced mousse from the edges inside to form a perfect square under the tuile

For a chef, having mentors like Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Ferran Adrià must be akin to taking music classes with Chopin and Brahms. Nuno Mendes' London restaurant demonstrates the qualities of ambition that most good protégés possess.

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