Vietnamese Stir-fried Chicken Recipe
An Easy Asian Main Dish Packed with Aromatic Herbs and Spices
Feb 24, 2009
Vietnamese cuisine is characterized by its use of fresh herbs and the combination of several spices in one dish. This gives the food complex but subtle flavors that make it a real delight to eat. Many Vietnamese dishes also use fish sauce, which is a reminder of the country’s long South China Sea coastline.
Do not be overwhelmed by the relatively long list of ingredients in this Asian main dish recipe. A few of the more specialist items, such the aromatic herbs and spices, lemongrass and ground bean paste, may need to be purchased in an Asian shop, but the rest of the ingredients should be readily available in the supermarket.
Once all the ingredients have been assembled, this is actually a very easy dish to make and the specialist items bought to make it will not expire for a while, so it can be made over and over again.
Vietnamese Stir-fried Chicken Recipe
Serves 4.
Preparation time: 20 minutes.
Cooking time: 25 minutes.
Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 1 lb 8 oz / 700 g chicken breasts, thinly sliced
- 10 spring onions, cut diagonally into about 1 inch / 2.5 cm lengths
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 red chili thinly sliced
- 5 tablespoons lemongrass, finely chopped
- 1 level teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 12 oz / 350 g green beans, cut into about 2 inch / 5 cm lengths
- 1 large carrot, cut into thin strips about 2 inch / 5 cm long
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons ground bean sauce
- A small handful of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- A small handful of peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped
Preparation:
- Over a medium flame, heat two tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan. Add the chicken and cook for about 6-8 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and put onto a plate covered with kitchen towel, to absorb any fat.
- Add the remaining oil to the pan and heat. Add the garlic, chili, lemongrass, cardamom and cinnamon and fry until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the spring onion and fry for a further 2 minutes. Then add the beans and carrots and stir fry for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently. The vegetables should be cooked but still crunchy.
- Put the chicken back into the frying pan. Mix in the fish sauce and bean sauce.
- Stir fry until the chicken is warmed through, approximately a further 2-3 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick.
- While the chicken is cooking, heat another frying pan over a medium flame and dry fry the peanuts until golden brown. Remove from the heat and chop roughly. Roughly chop the coriander.
- Divide the chicken and vegetables between four plates and garnish liberally with the peanuts and coriander.
Serve with boiled white rice.
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