I was watching an episode of Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam. This recipe fascinated me. It was like being in the lanes of Hanoi all over again. Shopping for little nothings from quaint corners, buying local art with the blazing red eye catching flowers on canvases everywhere, sitting to eat on really low plastic chairs and reaching new heights of delight with every intake of the brilliant textures of quail, squid, clams, what not, hearing the shrill sweet noises of rubber horns on local rickshaws, drooling over innumerable mugs from the romantic coffee repertoire, and wanting to eat more and more of everything that was on display at every street joint. Yes, Vietnam wins hands-down amongst many destinations that I have been lucky to visit and a re-visit with girlfriends is now on the bucket list.
I cannot not remember all the steps that the brilliant chef was showing on telly and I also would not be ambitious to recreate his version because his essential ingredient was fresh green little bunches of peppercorns which he plucked from trees in a pepper plantation. This and the fact that he was cooking under the liquid blue sky on a rustic stove I am sure will make his creation top class. But try my version that I share with you from my black and white modern kitchen in Mumbai. My recipe is a take-off from his with my own twists in it.
My food word for this recipe would be vivacious.
When you go shopping look for;
Chicken on the bone
Garlic
Red wine vinegar
Peppercorns
Onions
Shallots
Tender coconut
Tomato
Galangal
Lemon grass
Baby corns
Bird eye chillies
Fish sauce
The recipe would be:
I used a kilo of chicken on the bone. Wash it well and marinate with about four pods of crushed garlic, two tbsp red wine vinegar and about twenty pearls of roughly crushed peppercorns. Keep it overnight.
Also remember to source one large tender coconut with abundant water in it. Dice one tomato. Keep ready half an inch of galangal and bruise it. Also keep ready a sprig of lemon grass. I like to use four red bird eye chillies for the recipe.
On the day of cooking which is the next day, shallow fry the chicken making both sides burnt golden. Slice one red onion and take four pink shallots. Side-wise make slant cuts of six or seven baby corn tubes.
In a warm wok, add the chicken along with the pan oil, the baby corn, the onions, the shallot, the galangal, salt to taste, two tsp freshly ground pepper powder, the bird chillies and the tomato. Toss everything in the heat for three mins at high flame. Now is the refreshing addition to the recipe. Pour in the whole coconut water and bring to a boil. Toss in the lemon grass and allow the chicken to simmer at medium heat for a good twelve minutes till it softens. Pierce the meat to ensure it is soft. Add about three tsp full fish sauce.
Pour on sticky rice or brown rice and dig in while it is fresh from the wok. Though I lost my yellow lady bug bag to an attempted theft in Hanoi, I could only remember bright and joyous sensations while having this chicken inspite of the city being reasonably noisy and crowded. There is something vivacious about Vietnam.
