A Vietnamese way with chicken from Diana Henry who came across this dish in Hue in central Vietnam
Ingredients
- 750 g free range chicken thigh meat cut into 4cm cubes
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tsp soft light brown sugar
- 1/2 tbsp groundnut oil
- 4 banana shallots peeled and cut into rings
- 2 red birds eye chillies deseeded and minced
- 2 plump garlic cloves minced
- 21/2 tbsp minced root ginger
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 spring onions cut on the diagonal
- For the caramel
- 2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 65 g soft light brown sugar
- 65 g soft light brown sugar
Servings:
Instructions
- Put the chicken in a bowl and add the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar along with some freshly ground black pepper. Mix this all together with your hands, cover and put in the fridge to marinate for a couple of hours.
- Meanwhile, for the caramel, combine the fish sauce and lime juice. Put the sugar into a pan with 2 tablespoons of water and heat, tilting the pan to help the sugar melt. When you can smell that the sugar is just caramelising, quickly add the fish sauce and lime juice, remove from the heat and stir together.
- Heat the groundnut oil in a sauté pan or wide, shallow casserole (it needs to have a lid) and sauté the shallots, chilli, garlic and ginger until a little soft and pale in colour.
- Add the chicken with its marinade and sauté for another couple of minutes over a higher heat. Add the turmeric and cook for one more minute, then add the caramel. Cover the pot, turn the heat down low and allow to cook for about 15 minutes. The chicken should be cooked through with a lovely golden sauce around it.
- Sprinkle the spring onion on top and serve with jasmine rice and a bowl of herbs – coriander, mint and Thai basil – that people can add themselves.
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