Stand back and throw: milk marinaded chicken

They say that necessity is the mother of invention.

Case in point: a favourite recipe has gone missing. A tender little marinaded number, cooked on the BBQ. It was called Gai Yang Chicken. Um, I think? Look, I'm pretty sure about the chicken. But the rest is a bit hazy. I seem to be missing some (or is that all?) of the ingredients.

Solution? Make it up, of course.

I call this invention, ingenuity, resourcefulness. Yippee ... Gai Yang Chicken rides again. Of course, you might beg to differ; pointing out that Gai Yang Chicken can only be called such if it contains authentic ingredients. That I am corrupting a beautiful South-East Asian dish. You might say that I should be calling it Gai Yang Style ... or really something else altogether.

Fair enough. So this week I stood back and threw together ... er, a complete fabrication.

To begin I arrange some chicken thigh fillets in a dish. Then I cracked open a tin of evaporated milk. I poured the milk into a nice glass jug and took a few photographs in the late afternoon sun (note: this step is optional)

Next I tipped the milk into a food processor and threw in a bit of garlic, a couple of chillis and chunk of peeled ginger. This was followed by a big slurp of fish sauce and a sprinkling of lime leaves. Finally I flicked the switch and blended the lot together, then pour the resulting green sludge marinade over the chicken and refrigerated it for a few hours.

Finally I drained the chicken a little before barbequeing the pieces until golden and cooked (pictured, top).

I served it to the family with rice and vegetables - it was very tasty. No, really it was. Even the small people of the household devoured it. And I'd absolutely never make that bit up ....