Kai yang isan - barbequed chicken

kai yang is literally "barbequed (or grilled) chicken", and is peasant 
food. As such there are as many recipes as there are cooks in Thailand. 
There are however two main styles: kai yang khrung thep ("Bangkok 
Style") which is slightly more elaborate, and the basic kai yang isan 
("North East style"), which this is. Originally the chicken was cut open 
along the belly, and opened out, then knocked flat with a couple of 
judicious blows from the back of a cleaver, marinated, pegged in a split 
stick to hold it and then grilled over a charcoal brazier. 

Faced with the needs of restaurant cooking, my wife adapted the classic 
recipe for an industrial rotisserie by adding a stuffing. You can do 
this in a broiler oven or rotisserie. If you want a barbeque version, 
take two flattened chickens, place them face to face with the stuffing 
between them, and hold them in a pair of barbeque tongues, or one of 
those wire frame things, and barbeque the sandwich. 

Thai chickens tend to be quite small. You can use a 2 pound bird, or a 
couple of cornish game hens, or other small poultry. 

--Marinade:

half a cup of fish sauce 
half a cup of sweet dark soy sauce 
2 tablespoons of crushed garlic 
2 tablespoons of freshly ground ginger root 
1 tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper. 

Marinade the poultry overnight. 

--Stuffing

Mix half a cup each of freshly ground ginger, freshly ground galangal, 
thinly sliced bruised lemon grass stalk, chopped coriander [cilantro] 
(use the whole plant, including the roots, if you can get it), and fresh 
mushrooms. Add the marinade left over from the night before, and heat in 
a small saucepan to bring out the flavour if you are doing the mock kai 
yang (see below). Stuff the body of the bird[s]  

-- 

bake or broil until cooked, and the skin is crispy brown. 

-- 

This is served with Thai sticky rice, and nam prik jaew (see below), you 
should also put some more fresh ground ginger on the table and the usual 
Thai condiments (I particularly like chilis marinated in sweet dark soy 
sauce with this one). you can also serve it with a simple green salad 

--nam prik jaew

quarter cup yellow bean sauce 
quarter cup lime juice 
quarter cup minced garlic 
quarter cup minced ginger 
2 tablespoons of thinly sliced prik ki nu 
quarter cup light soy sauce 
quarter cup palm sugar 

--mock kai yang.

Wondering what to do with the left over turkey? well its a bit late now 
I guess, but next time you have the problem try this: 

Shred some pre-cooked poultry, to make about 4 cups of shredded meat. 
Add about half a cup of the marinade (above) and mix well, and leave for 
the meat to absorb the marinade. Make up about a cup of stuffing, 
moistening it with a tablespoon of the marinade mix, and heat it in a 
saucepan to bring out the aroma, then mix thoroughly with the marinaded 
meat. Serve cold with a salad and the other ingredients... (If you 
prefer you can mix the meat in with the stuffing and heat the whole 
thing, then eat it hot or cold to suit yourself).