Another day, another food diary. This time, a delicious fried chicken dish that will just make your tastebuds dance: chicken stir-fried with lemongrass and chile, or gà xào xả ớt in Vietnamese.
After reading many good reviews, I recently purchased the Kindle version of Andrea Nguyen's wonderful cookbook Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors. Having already followed a few of Nguyen's recipes on her website Viet World Kitchen, I knew I'd get a lot out of the book. This was the first recipe from the cookbook that I tried, and to say that I wasn't disappointed would be the understatement of the year. What you'll see below is the recipe as spelled out by Nguyen, but I have also made a few adjustments at the end that (IMO) only make the dish better.
Top Comments recognizes the previous day's Top Mojo and strives to promote each day's outstanding comments through nominations made by Kossacks like you. Please send comments (before 9:30pm ET) by email to topcomments@gmail.com or by our KosMail message board. Just click on the Spinning Top™ to make a submission. Look for the Spinning Top™ to pop up in diaries posts around Daily Kos.
Make sure that you include the direct link to the comment (the URL), which is available by clicking on that comment's date/time. Please let us know your Daily Kos user name if you use email so we can credit you properly. If you send a writeup with the link, we can include that as well. The diarist poster reserves the right to edit all content.
Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the doodle...
|
First, the ingredients. You'll obviously need chicken. The recipe calls for 1-1/3 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. It doesn't need to be the thigh, but I would recommend sticking with dark meat. If you're really attached to chicken breast, that could also work. Whatever you use, cut it into about 1-inch chunks.
You're going to need to marinate the chicken before you do anything else. To make the marinade, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar, 2-1/2 teaspoons Madras curry powder, and 2-1/2 teaspoons fish sauce (Three Crabs Brand nước mắm or a similarly high-quality fish sauce) to the chicken in a large bowl. If you're a fish sauce guzzler like I am, you might accidentally add a little more, and some might accidentally spill in your mouth on the way back to the fridge. Whoops. No harm, no foul.
Turn the chicken to coat it with the marinade evenly and let it sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, but up to an hour.
The other ingredients. You'll need a large shallot or a couple of small shallots, finely chopped. You know, as a longtime onion hater, I've really come to love the shallot. Other onions always overpower the dish for me and seem to jump out and scream, "HEY, LOOK AT ME, I'M AN ONION, TASTE ME AND FEEL MY CRUNCH!" Shallots are nice and subtle to the point where you almost don't know they're there, yet they add a strong and pleasant flavor to the dish.
One or two (I'm using two) Thai chiles, finely chopped. If you can't find these, a serrano chile will work just fine, but I wouldn't add more than one. Adjust to your heat preferences.
And, of course, a stalk of lemongrass, trimmed and finely chopped. Lemongrass is the undisputed star of this particular dish. If you're not familiar with preparing lemongrass for cooking, I'll include a good tutorial in the tip jar.
A couple more. A medium red bell pepper, chopped into about 3/4-inch chunks. Orange or yellow or even basic green will do just fine, too, although something other than green makes the dish look a little prettier.
Finally, 1/2 cup canned coconut milk. If you have an aversion, as some people do, to coconut, chicken stock is a good substitute. But I really recommend the coconut milk, which just makes this dish so scrumptious.
When the chicken is done marinating, add two tablespoons of canola (or vegetable or peanut) oil to a large frying pan or wok. As for me, I just bought myself a new wok! This is my first time making anything in it. I know, carbon steel is better than nonstick, but I don't want to put the time into taking care of a carbon steel wok when I'm not going to be using it all that often. Anyway, heat the oil on high heat until it is hot, but not smoking.
Add the shallot, chile, and lemongrass. Stir-fry for about a minute, or until it is nice and fragrant.
Then, add the chicken and bell pepper. Stir it up.
Then, leave it alone for about a minute. What you want to do is nicely sear the chicken on one side.Use a spatula to turn the chicken over and sear on the other side. Add the coconut milk. Turn the heat down and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced and the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
And there you have it! A fairly quick and easy dish that packs a ton of flavor. You can eat it alone, or you can serve it over a bed of jasmine rice. Top with cilantro coriander (think that'll fool him? :)). Chopped green onion would also be a nice touch. The remaining liquid will soak into the rice and make it taste like heaven. Mmmmm-mmmmm-mmmmm.
On the second run of this dish (because it was so good that there had to be a second run with the remaining chicken in my freezer), I made a few adjustments that, in my opinion, only improved the dish. I added about a tablespoon of chopped fresh ginger, two minced cloves of garlic, and a tablespoon of sesame oil to the marinade. YMMV. Make adjustments accordingly, and chúc ngon miệng!
TOP PHOTOS
February 27, 2014
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
|