Vietnamese Goat Curry (Ca Ri De)

My dear friend A and I ventured out to Footscray during the long weekend, something we used to do quite a bit but that was when I still cooked regularly at home. Instead of our regular Vietnamese meal we opted for Ethiopian food for a change, it was a delightful meal but we both had way too much of the delicious injera. We left the African quarter feeling happy and satisfied (not to mention how full we were), a long stroll to the Vietnamese market followed, for some food shopping and to walk off those fast expanding injera in our stomachs. I picked up some fresh herbs, sauces and spices for the pantry and some very fresh goat meat from a halal butcher.

If you are a fan of Vietnamese chicken curry (ca ri ga) then you might want to give this goat version a try. The recipe and cooking method is exactly the same but do increase the amount of spices and curry powder when cooking this gamey meat, an advice given by a lovely Vietnamese lady who runs an Asian supermarket in my neighbourhood.

The result is a mild but extremely aromatic curry, the tender meat literally falls of the bones a result of the slow and long braising. We had it with some freshly baked baguettes from a Vietnamese bakery but it will go equally well with some hot steamed rice.

serves 6 to 8 as part of a Vietnamese meal

you'll need;

1 x 1.5 kg of goat pieces on the bone*

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 white/purple sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 onion, cut into wedges

8 tbs of Vietnamese curry powder

1 tbs of coriander powder

1 tbs of black pepper

4 tbs of roasted chili flakes

4 shallots, chopped 

6 garlic cloves, chopped 

2 lemongrass, cut into 3" lengths and bruised with a hard object

3" piece of ginger, sliced thickly

5 kaffir lime leaves or bay leaves

1.5 cups of chicken stock

300 ml of coconut milk

300 ml of coconut cream

3 tbs of sugar

4 tbs of fish sauce

salt to taste

spring onion, coriander leaves and Thai basil to serve

* Available at halal butcher

Mix goat pieces with 3 tbs of the curry powder, cumin powder, black pepper  and a pinch of salt. Leave it for 20 minutes.

Prepare the aromatics.

Brown goat pieces in batches and set aside.

Saute chopped garlic, shallot, the rest of the curry powder and chili flakes for 30 seconds. then add in the goat pieces. Continue to stir and cook for a few minutes on high heat.

Return the goat pieces to the pot and continue to stir and cook for a few minutes on high heat.

Add lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, sugar, seasonings and stock. Mix well and simmer for 10 minutes. Add coconut milk and bring it back to a simmer, cover and cook until the goat is almost tender. (~2 hours)

Add sweet potato and onion wedges and simmer uncovered til sweet potato pieces are tender. Check for seasoning.

Garnish with fresh herbs and chopped chillies and serve with some freshly baked baguette or steamed rice.

Vietnamese Grilled Five Spice Chicken With Sticky Rice

We tried a similar dish at our favourite Vietnamese joint on Victoria Street a while back. The pairing of grilled chicken and sticky rice reminded me of a popular Issarn dish. When I found a recipe for the five spice chicken in my favourite  Vietnamese cookbook I decided to recreate the dish at home. I am pretty happy with the end result; it is not as sweet as the restaurant version and the soy and lime dipping sauce is a rather good break away from the universal Vietnamese sauce nouc cham for once!

recipe for the chicken and sauce adapted from Pleasures Of The Vietnamese Kitchen
serve 3 as a very filling one dish meal
oven preheated at 180 C
you'll need;
3 free range chicken maryland
2 tbs of minced garlic
3 tbs of minced ginger
2 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tsp of five spice powder
2 tbs of sugar
2 tbs of soy sauce
3 tbs of vegetable oil
salt to taste
3 star anise, toasted and ground

*for the marinade - pound garlic, ginger and sugar to a fine paste before adding the rest of the ingredients (except the star anise powder).

you'll also need;
500 g of sticky rice, soaked overnight and steamed til tender
cucumber slices to serve
tomato slices to serve
crispy shallots to serve

for the lime and soy dipping sauce;
1/3 cup of light soy
2.5 tbs of sugar
1 clove of garlic
3 bird chili
1/4 cup of water
2.5 tbs of lime juice with pulp

Remove excess fat from the chicken and make a few slits and marinate overnight. Add star anise powder just before cooking.

Place marinated chicken on a rack over an oven tray with 2 cm of water in it. Alternatively, grill them on your bbq.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden and cook through, baste with the remaining marinade from time to time. Rest chicken for 5 to 8 minutes before serving.

Place soaked sticky rice in a bamboo steamer and steam til tender.

Prepare the dipping sauce - pound chili, garlic and sugar to a fine paste. Add water, soy and juice of one lime and mix well. Check for seasonings.

Serve chicken with some sticky rice, dipping sauce, cucumber and tomato slices.

The chicken will be delicious over a bed of egg noodles with spring onion oil.

This has been submitted to Delicious Vietnam,  an event co-hosted by Anh of A Food Lover's Journey and Hong and Kim of Ravenous Couple.  Javaholic is hosting the current event.

Hue Chicken Salad (Ga Bop)

I first tasted this elegant dish on my first visit to Hue in Vietnam. Hue is renowned for its fine royal cuisine and this is a testament of that . As you can notice very few ingredients are used here but every single one of them has to be the absolute best.  The handling of the ingredients too are not to be taken lightly as any flaws can greatly affect the final dish. This is certainly a dish that will test one's knife skill, cooking skill and patience all at once but the reward is more than words could describe. Vietnamese salad is consumed like Thai salad as part of a meal with plenty of steamed rice.

P.S Recipe by one of my reader Pham, thank you!

serves 4 to 6 as part of a Vietnamese meal

you'll need;

1/2 a chicken or a small chicken, poached* and shredded.

5 cm knob of ginger, sliced

2 spring onions (white part only)

1 star anise

1 brown onion, very thinly sliced, rinsed and drained well

juice of 1 lime

3 bird chilies (or 1 large red chili for a milder version)

2 tsp of sugar

1 tsp of black pepper

1 tsp of salt

1 tbs of peanut oil

1 bunch (about 1 cup) of Vietnamese mint

lettuce

* chicken is poached the Chinese way which produces the most tender meat every time.

method 1 - Place chicken, ginger, star anise, spring onion in a pot. Cover chicken with water and bring it to a boil, cover on heat off and leave chicken til the water cools down.

method 2 - Place chicken, ginger, star anise, spring onion in a pot. Cover chicken with water and bring it

to a boil, cover on and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the chicken.

Poach the chicken using any of the above method. Reserve cooking stock for other uses.

Shred half the chicken (keep the other half as topping for noodles or congee)

Slice the onion very finely and the chilies.

Vietnamese mint - can't do without this, pick an set aside.

Massage chicken with sugar, black pepper, oil, salt and lime juice, yes massage very well then add in the onions and chilies. Mix well.

Finally mix in the Vietnamese mint and mix well, check for seasonings. Well it is really not that hard is it?

Serve as part of a Vietnamese meal with plenty of steamed rice.

This has been submitted to Delicious Vietnam,  an event co-hosted by Anh of A Food Lover's Journey and Hong and Kim of Ravenous Couple. Hong and Kim are hosting the June event.

Barramundi With Ginger And Lime Dipping Sauce (Ca Chien Nuoc Mam Gung)

If you are not paying attention you might mistake this for a Thai dish. In fact this is another simple but wonderful recipe from "Pleasure of a Vietnamese kitchen" that I would like to share with you. The beautiful dipping sauce in my last post acts as a sauce for the sweet tender fish. It is healthy, simple to make and very delicious! You may use whole fish or other firm white fish fillets with this. I think it will work very well with a whole grilled snapper.

P.S If you are a seafood lover and care about where your fish comes from, "The End Of The Line" might be a good watch at the cinema this weekend. I think the title says it all...

serves 4 as part of a Vietnamese meal

you'll need;

700 g of barramundi fillets, cut into large chunks

1/2 a telegraph cucumber

1 red chili, julienne

1 spring onion, sliced

1/4 cup of coriander leaves

corn flour for coating

1 cup of ginger and lime dipping sauce , recipe click HERE 

Cut cucumber lengthwise and remove seeds then using a vegetable peeler to cut out thin long ribbons.

Add cucumber ribbons to the ginger and lime dipping sauce.

Season fish with salt and pepper then lightly dust fish with corn flour.

Shallow fry fish with peanut oil.

Place fish in a shallow bowl and arrange the cucumber ribbons over. Pour over the sauce.

Serve immediately with plenty of steamed rice.

This has been submitted to Delicious Vietnam,  an event co-hosted by Anh of A Food Lover's Journey and Hong and Kim of Ravenous Couple. Hong and Kim are hosting the June event.

Ginger And Lime Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Gung)

Anyone that had been to a Vietnamese restaurant before would be somehow familiar with nouc cham  (Vietnamese dipping sauce) as it is served alongside almost everything. This is a wonderful alternative to that, it goes really well with poached or grilled chicken, meat and seafood. 

makes 1 cup

you'll need;

3 bird chilies

1 green chili

5 cm knob of ginger, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

4 tbs of sugar

1/3 cup of fish sauce

3 tbs of lime juice

4 tbs of water

Mince the aromatics.

Place chopped ingredients in a bowl then add sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and water. Mix well and check for seasonings.

This will keep well for up to a week in the fridge.

Vietnamese Chicken Curry (Ca Ri Ga)

Almost every country in Asia has it's own version of chicken curry (or curries) and Vietnam is no exception. Vietnamese curry is relatively mild (and unknown) compared to it's Indian, Thai or Malaysian counterparts but extremely fragrant and full of flavours no less. I first cooked this curry a decade ago using a recipe from 'Pleasures Of The Vietnamese Table' and fell in love with it right away. Now I am able to cook this dish with my eyes shut, well....... almost. I recently tried goat curry served with baguette at a Vietnamese eating place and I think that too might be appearing on our table soon. 

P.S Try using a selection of different sweet potatoes in the dish to add even more colour and texture to this beautiful dish.

serves 4 to 6 as part of a Vietnamese meal

you'll need;

1 x 1.25 kg free range chicken*

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 onion, cut into wedges

5 tbs of Vietnamese curry powder

3 tbs of roasted chili flakes

3 shallots, chopped 

4 garlic cloves, chopped 

1 lemongrass, cut into 3" lengths and bruised with a hard object

2" piece of ginger, sliced thickly

3 kaffir lime leaves or bay leaves

1.5 cups of chicken stock

800 ml of coconut milk

3 tbs of sugar

4 tbs of fish sauce

salt to taste

spring onion, coriander leaves and Thai basil to serve

* Use chicken thighs if you are not comfortable chopping up a whole chicken.

Mix chicken pieces with 3 tbs of the curry powder and a pinch of salt. Leave it for 20 minutes.

Have all the ingredients ready.

Saute chopped garlic, shallot, curry powder and chili flakes for 30 seconds then add in the chicken pieces. Continue to stir and cook for a few minutes on high heat.

Add lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, sugar, seasonings and stock. Mix well and simmer for 10 minutes.

Next in go the coconut milk and bring it back to a simmer for 15 minutes.

Add sweet potato and onion wedges and simmer uncovered til sweet potato pieces are tender. Check for seasonings.

Serve immediately with plenty of steamed rice or some French baguette.

Remember to check my equally delicious Vietnamese goat curry.

This has been submitted to Delicious Vietnam,  an event co-hosted by Anh of A Food Lover's Journey and Hong and Kim of Ravenous Couple. Hong and Kim are hosting the June event.