Chicken Lettuce Wraps

makes enough for 2 people

Ingredients

1 lb chicken

4 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 tbsp ginger (julienned)

1/4 cup dried wood ear mushroom

1 can watercress (diced)

1 cup carrot (shredded)

1/4 cup goji berries

1 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp sesame seeds

iceberg lettuce (leaves separated)

Preparation

Soak mushrooms in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes or until fully bloomed.
Drain water and slice mushrooms in long thin strips. Set aside.
Add cooking oil to a pan over medium heat. Wait 2-3 minutes for the oil to be ready.
Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
Add ginger and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add ground chicken and cook for 3-5 minutes or until opaque in color.
Add soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sugar and sesame oil to chicken and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Add mushroom, watercress, carrot and goji berries. Cook until watercress is tender but still crunchy.
Feel free to adjust seasoning to your liking at this point.
Place chicken inside lettuce, sprinkle on some sesame seeds and enjoy!

Good to know

Nothing! It’s that easy.

Hello hello!

It feels like a million years ago since I last posted something. Life has been hectic and I have been neglecting this happy little corner for quite some time. But I am back to share the below Vietnamese Chicken Curry recipe with you. This is another one of those dishes that I grew up eating and is a stable at every family gathering or party. The most time consuming part is getting the vegetable prepped. Other than that, it’s pretty much a dump-it-all-together-and-wait kind of dish. Easy-peasy!

Vietnamese Chicken Curry

makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients

I3 lbs chicken, cut into bite size or 1 1/2" pieces

2 cans baby corn, drained the liquid

2 medium sweet potato, peeled, cut into 1 1/2” pieces

2 medium carrot, peeled, cut into 1/2” thick wide

1 yellow onion, cut in 1 1/2” pieces

1 stalk of lemon grass, minced

2 tbs ginger, minced

4 lime or bay leaves

6 cups chicken stock

3 cans coconut milk

4 tbs shallot, minced

3 tbs garlic, minced

3 tbs sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp onion powder

2 tbs red chili powder

5 tbs yellow curry powder

2 tbs coconut oil

4-6 tbs fish sauce

Preparation

Combine the chicken with salt, sugar, onion powder, curry powder, garlic, shallot and chili powder.
Mix well and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.
In a big pot, heat the coconut oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes. To test the oil readiness, add a small piece of onion, if it start sizzling immediately then the oil is ready.
Add the lemon grass, ginger, yellow onion and bay leaves. Stir frequently for 2-3 minutes.
Add the chicken. Stir frequently for 5-8 minutes or until the skin of the chicken is a golden yellow color.
Add half of the chicken stock and coconut milk.
Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the curry to a boil, about 15 minutes.
Add potatoes, carrots, baby corn.
Add the rest of the chicken stock and coconut milk.
Add the fish sauce according to your taste.
Simmer everything over medium heat for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
It’s done when the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are tender.
Enjoy hot with vermicelli, rice or french baguette.

Good to know

Chicken: breast and drumsticks with the skin on is the way to go.

Curry powder: have you ever seen red Vietnamese curry? No? Me, neither. Get the yellow one.

Coconut milk: full fat does it better, always. However, if you want to spare the calories for 2 servings instead of 1 then you can use the light/low fat option. You do you, boo boo!

Fish sauce: my taste buds lean more on the saltier side and since there’s a hight fat content (thank you, coconut milk), I ended up using all 6 tbs. I highly recommend adding 3-4 tbs first and adjust thereafter. It’s an ordeal trying to salvage an overly salty dish. So add, taste, add, taste, repeat.

Potahtah: they should be tender but still retained their shape. After adding them, stir sparingly to avoid breaking down the starch too much. This is also the reason why I added them in with the 2nd batch of chicken stock and coconut milk. Some recipes suggested that you add the potatoes at the same time as the chicken, I found this theory false. They cook at different time and doing so will accidentally give me potatoes soup. It’s still be a pretty solid soup but I’m here for the curry.

Toodles!