Thit Ga Bop Rau Ram- Hue Chicken Salad

A love story, or why did the chicken cross the road? Hmmm, sometimes, the road finds us.  A lovely woman came back into my life, and when she brings you a chicken, make chicken salad! If it slaps you into tomorrow, hang on and marry her!

I have spent more than half my life in a kitchen, so when An and I began dating, I figured I could woo her with dinner (or lose her, pending my cooking skills!) With a little luck, I was able to steal her heart! Eventually, she chose a special night to cook.  Her mother taught her this dish, and I was hooked.  

I have eaten many Vietnamese chicken salads, but the herbs and zesty onion make this my favorite.  I am not including any measurements as it is all to taste.  I prefer a huge amount of herbs and lime juice.  You can add other garnishes also, including thinly sliced chiles, fried onions, or cracked black pepper.  I add all of the above.  

When I make this, it is not as good as hers, but then again the student rarely passes the teacher.

1 Whole Chicken, rinsed and rubbed with lemon

Red Onion, thinly sliced

Green Onion, thinly sliced

Rice Vinegar

Limes

Cilantro

Rau Ram

Roasted Peanuts

Nuoc Cham

In a large pot of boiling water, add ginger, peppercorns, and garlic with the chicken.  Poach for about 30 minutes until cooked through.  While the chicken is cooking, toss the onions with a small amount of rice wine vinegar.  Remove the chicken and let it cool.  Strain the liquids and chill quickly.  Save this for a nice light chicken stock.

When the chicken has cooled, remove the skin and shred.  Then continue shredding the meat.  When all the meat has been picked, toss some of it with the onions and skin.  Add some herbs and nuoc cham.  Continue the process until you have a nice salad.  Garnish with peanuts, lime juice and more nuoc cham.

  

While eating or cooking, we love music.  Sometimes it appears that our life revolves around music and concerts.  We scan the national tours hoping to find the next groups to visit New Orleans, also looking forward to the upcoming festivals trying to relive our youth through music!  

We enjoy debating on which song or band rules certain genres or decades.  Power ballads are a favorite topic, and the discussion never ends.  So in honor of the John Cusack movie High Fidelity, I will make a list of my top five power ballads in order of greatness.  An will disagree, but that will only lead to a grand discussion about Sebastian Bach's greatness or the vocal ability of Klaus Meine!

Top Five Power Ballad's

1) Home Sweet Home- Motley Crue

2) I Remember You- Skid Row

3) Still Loving You- The Scorpions

4) November Rain- Guns N Roses

5) Don't Know What You Got Til Its Gone- Cinderella

Ginger Caramel Chicken/ Five Pepper Chicken

Today's culinary ideas and recipes seem to be filled with complicated equipment, hard to find ingredients, restaurant type techniques, etc. etc.  It does not need to be this way.  A basic pantry and any protein can make up a very good meal.  The goal of keeping it simple does not mean keeping it flavorless.  Simplicity can mean using clean, fresh flavors and a basic technique to come up with something wonderful.  Keep the pantry stocked with some solid items, and you can create a myriad of dishes.
   
We were looking for something easy and familiar for dinner.  I cut up a chicken and tossed it in the marinade, let it sit for about an hour.  Soon after, dinner was served.  Nothing complex or sophisticated about this dish.  Just cook up some rice and serve. 

I did a variation with more pepper.  Chinese-American buffets usually have a dish called black pepper chicken, so I wanted to fool around with a Vietnamese style pepper chicken.  I altered the marinade and added a few things to the sauce changing the name to "Five Pepper Chicken." I like the spicy version, so you can choose between two types of chicken.

Variation- see bottom "Five Pepper Chicken"

Ga Kho Gung- Ginger Caramelized Chicken

Marinade- (reserve 1/2 of the marinade)

3/4 cup fish sauce

3/4 cup grated ginger

3/4 cup garlic, minced

2 Thai chili
1 cup palm sugar

2 tbsp canola oil

1 onion, diced

1/3 cup chicken stock

Heat the oil in a large skillet, and gently add the chicken removing it from the marinade.  Brown it on all sides then remove to a plate.  Add some sliced onions and caramelize.  Gently place the chicken back into the pan and continue to cook.  Pour in the reserved marinade and chicken stock.  Reduce until it forms a nice glaze.

Ginger chicken is served as Ice-T, Chuck D, Dr. Dre, and KRS-One joined my imaginary roundtable. Oh yeah, I am joining the "Original Gangster" for lunch, at least I am thinking about it!  My playlist included amazing classics such as "By the Time I Get to Arizona," "Straight Outta Compton," and many others by the seem-to-be-forgotten old skool rappers.  Where has all the rap gone?  These guys set a stage for what has become something I don't quite understand.  Well maybe I am not in their target audience, but once upon a time I was in the crowd! 

Alternate method-

Marinade- 1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp black pepper

1/2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns

1 tbsp green peppercorns

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp garlic, chopped

Mash all ingredients into a paste and rub into the chicken.  Let it soak for about an hour.

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp sugar

2 Thai chilies

1 tbsp red bean curd

1 tbsp red chili paste

1 cup chicken stock

In a heavy bottom skillet, heat coconut oil and sear the chicken skin side down.  Brown the skin nicely, then flip it over and cook for another 3-4 minutes shaking gently every now and then so it does not burn.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on med low heat until the sauce thickens, and the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Chicken Curry

Mysterious spices traded amongst explorers and natives have long been the subject of legend and history. Fennel, tamarind, mustard seed, cumin, coriander, peppercorns, and many, many more varieties of spices were carried throughout the East and into far off magical worlds.  

With a mortar and pestle, the blending of these spices led to various curries. Some are wet while others are dry, and colors heightened by the various chilies continue to criss cross the world.  

The madras style yellow powder hails from the Tamil Nadu region of South India and includes an array of spices including turmeric (which gives the yellow color), fenugreek, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, tamarind, garlic, ginger, coriander, mustard seed, among others. Below is my version of a wonderful chicken curry in the Vietnamese style which includes plenty of french bread for sopping up liquid and on a bed of vermicelli.  Spicy, tart, sweet, and wonderfully rich, this is a mainstay of any Vietnamese household.  ENJOY!!!!



Ca Ri Ga- Chicken Curry

2 lbs. chicken thighs (bone in)

Rub

1 Thai Chili minced

2 tbsp curry powder

1 piece lemongrass- white part minced

2 cloves garlic minced

grind together in a mortar and pestle until it becomes a paste

2 tbsp canola oil

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 piece lemongrass, white parts minced

1 piece ginger, 2 inches long, minced

1 lb fingerling potatoes, quartered

1/2 lb roma tomatoes, quartered

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 can coconut milk

2 cups chicken stock

1 tbsp sugar

1 lime
salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

garnish with Vietnamese coriander, cilantro, green onions, and lime

serve over vermicelli with plenty of French bread for dipping!!

Thoroughly coat the chicken thighs with the rub.  In a heavy bottomed pot, heat up the oil, and sear the chicken on all sides until nicely browned.  Removed the thighs from the heat and add onions, carrots, lemongrass, and ginger.  Sweat until tender and aromatic.  Add the potatoes.  Coat the potatoes in the oil and seasoning, then season with the curry powder and fish sauce.  Pour in coconut milk and chicken stock.  Bring to a simmer and add the chicken, tomatoes, sugar, and juice of a lime.  Cook for about 25-30 minutes until chicken is done but tender.   Adjust seasoning if necessary.  A dash of fish sauce or sugar might be the trick!  

Lo Soi Braised Duck and Pork

Stocks over one hundred years old?  Lo Soi means "old water" or "master sauce."  Well there are rumors that these aged stocks are true, however, I do not think I will live long enough to celebrate the centennial with my stock, and I have a feeling that my descendants might throw it away.  So I will be utilizing it over my lifetime and enjoy the pleasures of a flavorful poaching liquid.   

The Chinese, especially the Cantonese cooks, have been storing and making master stocks for centuries.  The Vietnamese have taken this technique and now consider it a mainstay in daily cuisine.  While the broth can be used in soup, it is more traditional to use it while poaching meat or poultry.  Goi Ga (Vietnamese chicken salad) is enhanced when the chicken is cooked in this manner.  

I used the pork to make steamed buns (that recipe will be another blog down the road).  In addition to the pork, the steamed buns include cilantro and a carrot/daikon mix that was pickled in a little sugar with rice wine vinegar.  A shot of sriracha and hoisin sauce livens up the buns, also.  

We cut up the duck and ate it with some rice, herbs, and salad of carrots and cabbage.  

Lo Soi Braised Pork/Duck/Chicken 

2 pieces cinnamon

6 pieces star anise

10 cloves

2 cardamom pod

2 pieces ginger (about 1 inch long)

1 tbsp five spice

4 tbsp fish sauce

4 cups soy sauce

16 ounces palm sugar

1 ½ lb. pork shoulder or

1 whole duck or

1 whole chicken

In a dry pot, toast the spices until fragrant, then add the remaining ingredients and 7 quarts of water; bring to a boil for about 15-20 minutes allowing the flavors to infuse.  Add meat and bring to a boil.  30 minutes for the pork, and 35-40 minutes for the duck and chicken.  Remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool down in the liquid for about 30 minutes.  Remove the meat and strain the liquid.  Chill the stock and put into the refrigerator.  To reuse- bring the stock up to a boil and skim.  Re-season with new spices and check salt and sugar content.    More water will need to be added also.  If you do not plan on using the stock within the following week or so, freeze it.  

Custom plates by Gerald Haessig

Since braising or poaching meat tends to be a more laid back type of cooking, my choices in music slightly changed.  I decided to grace my kitchen with the sounds of Pink Floyd.  Predictable you say?  Why yes it could be, but I went with a random selection including some Syd Barrett hits such as "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play."  Interspersed with some Waters/Gilmour tracks, I really started digging the bubbles coming up from the liquid and the mellow tunes of Animals and Wish You Were Here.  The mood was setting in, and I sipped a ca phe sua da only it was laced with some Grand Marnier.  What a great combination!  I turned the meat off, let it rest, kept the music going and took a nap.  When I awoke, it was ready to go!  Ahh, I love braising meat!