Vietnamese Chicken with Spicy Salad
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 8 chicken thighs skin on, bone in, trimmed of excess fat
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 thumb sized piece fresh ginger
- 1 red chilli
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 small handful fresh coriander leaves picked, to serve
For the Vietnamese salad:
- 1 lime juice
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp dark brown sugar
- ½ head savoy cabbage
- 100 g bean sprouts
- 6 spring onion
- 1 red chilli
- 100 g roasted unsalted peanuts
- 1 small handful fresh coriander leaves picked
- 1 small handful fresh basil leaves picked
- 1 small handful fresh mint leaves picked
Equipment
Large casserole
Tongs
Chopping board
Chopping knife
Large bowl
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160˚C. Finely slice the garlic and chilli for the chicken.
- Slice the ginger into matchsticks.
- Place a large high-sided, oven proof frying pan (snug enough to fit all the thighs without too much space in between) over a medium high heat. Add in the sugar and 3 tablespoons of water and cook for just a minute or so, swirling the pan occasionally until you are left with a dark caramel.
- Add in the chicken thighs (skin side down), garlic, chilli and ginger, turning to coat completely in the mixture.
- Pour in 3 tbsp more water alongside the fish sauce and apple cider vinegar. Bring to a steady simmer. Turn again to coat and place the pan in the oven to cook for 35-45 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through.
- Turn the chicken halfway through the cooking time to ensure it doesn’t stick.
- While the chicken cooks, prepare the salad. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
- Thinly slice the savoy cabbage and the spring onions.
- Thinly slice the chilli for the salad.
- Crush the peanuts in a pestle and mortar.
- Add the cabbage, bean sprouts, spring onions, chilli, coriander, and mint and basil leaves to the bowl of dressing and toss through until well combined.
- Serve the chicken and salad to the table, garnish with some crushed peanuts and devour!
Notes
Some of my favourite food memories are from my first travels to Southeast Asia, a true voyage of discovery after years of poring over cookbooks and attempting to recreate classic dishes at home. Needless to say, nothing quite compares to sitting on plastic stools on the roadside shoulder to shoulder with the locals eating bun cha with smokey fatty pork over noodles in Hanoi or guzzling down down spicy som tum papaya salad on the streets of Bangkok. However I do my best to recreate elements of those experiences back home, with slightly more limited ingredients. This dish encapsulates some of my favourite aspects of South East Asian cuisine, that heady combination of salty, sweet, sour, spicy and bitter ingredients brought to life in the form of caramel roast chicken rich in a fish sauce caramel, served alongside a vibrant herb laden fresh cabbage salad with plenty of bite.
Nutrition
Calories: 543kcal