| CATEGORY |
CUISINE |
TAG |
YIELD |
| Meats, Vegetables, Seafood |
Vietnamese |
Poultry, Spicy, Vietnamese |
4 |
Servings |
INGREDIENTS
| 1 |
t |
Cornstarch |
| 3 |
T |
Water |
| 1 |
lb |
Chicken breast*, skinless |
|
|
boneless sliced 1/4" |
|
|
thick |
|
|
& 1-1/2" long |
| 3 |
T |
Vegetable oil |
| 10 |
|
Whole dried chiles, or to |
|
|
taste optional |
| 1/4 |
c |
Minced lemon grass |
|
|
preferably fresh |
| 1 |
T |
Minced garlic |
| 2 |
T |
Sugar |
| 1 |
t |
Ground chili paste, and /or |
|
|
1 small fresh red chili |
|
|
thinly sliced |
| 1/2 |
c |
Homemade unsalted or canned |
|
|
low-sodium chicken stock |
| 1 |
T |
Fish sauce |
| 1/4 |
t |
Salt |
| 1/2 |
|
Yellow onion, sliced into |
|
|
thin wedges |
| 1 |
c |
Julienned carrots, blanched |
|
|
and shocked in ice water |
|
|
Fresh cilantro sprigs for |
|
|
garnish |
INSTRUCTIONS
You may substitute a firm, white-flesh fish such as swordfish, tofu or
pork for the chicken. Combine cornstarch and water in a large mixing
bowl until well blended. Add the chicken, making sure it is well
coated. Heat the oil in a nonstick fry pan over low heat. Add the
dried chiles and cook until they puff up and are slightly brown (not
black), about 10 seconds. Remove, drain on paper towels, and set
aside. Increase the heat to high and add the lemon grass, garlic,
sugar, chili paste, and fresh chili until fragrant, about 1 minute.
(The sauce is exquisite when the sugar is slightly caramelized.) Add
the chicken, and using chopsticks or a spatula, stir to separate. Cook
until chicken begins to turn opaque, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat
if the pan starts to burn. Add the chicken stock, fish sauce, salt,
onion and carrots and continue cooking for another 3 to 4 minutes. Add
the reserved chilies, garnish with the cilantro and serve immediately
with rice. Notes: The technique of creating aromatics is particularly
important in this recipe. Once the pan is sizzling hot, add the
seasonings. Stir often to extract the flavors and to prevent burning.
If the fire is too hot, simply slide the pan to an empty burner to
cool a bit. If the seasonings burn, start over from scratch or the
dish will taste bitter. From: "The Best of Vietnamese and Thai
Cooking" by Mai Pham : Published by Prima Publishing, 1996 :
As Heard on The World, Thursday, June 25, 1998 From: The World Website
(PRI) http://www.theworld.org, converted by MM_Buster v2.0m. Posted
to MM-Recipes Digest by Steve Zielinski <stevez@ripco.com> on Nov 27,
1998
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