Vietnamese lemongrass and ginger chicken

Kate Carless
Kate Carless @KateCarless
Bath, UK

I learnt to make this really quick and deliciously fresh chicken dish at a cooking school on my travels in Vietnam for my honeymoon. It brings back so many happy memories of all the delicious food we discovered and enjoyed. My top tip for this recipe is to make sure everything is really finely chopped because it doesn’t need to cook for very long and you don’t want large chunks of raw garlic or tough lemongrass in your sauce. Also, if you can get Vietnamese fish sauce, it has a slightly milder fishy taste than the Thai alternative. If Thai fish sauce is your only option, just use a bit less.

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Ingredients

50 minutes (including prep)
3-4 people
  1. 3large chicken breasts
  2. 6 clovesgarlic - finely chopped
  3. 3 stickslemon grass - finely chopped
  4. 2small onions - 1 finely chopped, the other finely sliced
  5. 1large knob ginger - finely grated
  6. 3 tspturmeric
  7. 5 tbspVietnamese fish sauce (3 tbsp if you can only find Thai)
  8. 1 tspcaster sugar
  9. 3 tbspsiracha / hot chilli sauce
  10. 1 1/2 tbspoil, plus extra for frying
  11. 1chilli finely chopped
  12. 2 tbspfresh coriander

Cooking Instructions

50 minutes (including prep)
  1. 1

    Finely chop the lemongrass, garlic, ginger. Slice / chop the onion. Set aside.

  2. 2

    Slice the chicken breasts into strips and put in a bag or bowl. Add 1/3 of the lemongrass, garlic and all of the ginger. Then add the turmeric, fish sauce, sugar, siracha, oil and a little black pepper. Mix together and set aside to marinade for 30 minutes.

  3. 3

    After 30 mins, heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped and sliced onion, remaining lemongrass and remaining garlic. Fry until the onion is soft. Be careful not to burn them.

  4. 4

    Next add the chicken, all of the marinading juices, finely chopped chilli and 150 ml water (you might need more or less water depending on how big your chicken breasts are). You want enough to create a light sauce.

  5. 5

    Simmer for 7-10 minutes until the chicken has cooked through. Sprinkle over the coriander and serve with rice (and some green veg if you fancy it)

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Comments (6)

Miss Fluffy's Cooking (Angie's Italian Cooking)
Miss Fluffy's Cooking (Angie's Italian Cooking) @missfluffy
Looks delicious. Do you know what I could use instead of lemongrass? Very difficult to get here

Written by

Kate Carless
Kate Carless @KateCarless
on
Bath, UK
Love cooking food that I can share with friends. Never happier than when I’ve got people over for dinner enjoying great food (and great wine of course). I’m a big fan of seasonal ingredients and coming up with quick and fresh ideas for during the busy working week.
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