Lemongrass And Chili Chicken, Ga Xao Xa Ot

Another Vietnamese restaurant favourite that I have never attempted at home before. Thanks to the recently aired Luke Nguyen's Vietnam on SBS television, I realised we can actually make it better and tastier than what we have been getting at our local Vietnamese place. Once I had decided on "Shaking Beef", which I posted yesterday, another simple to prepare vietnamese dish with some delicious sauce for the rice is needed, lemongrass chicken became the very obvious choice for me.

I lightly browned the chicken pieces first as our not very powerful gas burner would not have given me the caramelised flavour so desired in the dish, so if you have a turbo burner skip this part :) Do use boned or skinned chicken, but I personally prefer meat on the bones.

P.S the recipe is adapted from the above mentioned TV show.

Serves 4 as part of a Vietnamese meal;

you'll need;

2 chicken marylands, cut into manageble pieces, marinated and seared

1/2 onion, cut into chunks

3 spring onions, cut into 2" length

3 tbs of chopped lemongrass (I used my standby frozen type)

1/2 cup coconut water or chicken stock

extra chilies for garnish

for the marinate;

4 bird chilies, pounded

1 tbs chopped garlic

1 tbs chooped lemongrass

1 tbs of light soy

1/2 tbs of fish sauce

1/2 tsp of corn flour

salt and pepper

Some of the ingredients for the dish.

Brown the chicken in batches, keeping the marinate.

In a hot wok, saute garlic, shallots and lemongrass til fragrant, return chicken pieces and marinate and fry for 5 minutes. Pour in the coconut water or stock, bring it to a boil, add spring onions, onions and cook for another minute.

Serve warm with plenty of steamed rice of course.