I can’t believe it has been so long since I’ve last shared a recipe here, but I haven’t stopped eating–here’s Instagram proof!. About 14 months ago I got my first non-self-employed job, so Hungry Huy has been a bit neglected.
I started to cook at home a lot less, which meant eating out more. It’s quite a bit more expensive to eat out and usually not as healthy (fun though!), but I’ve decided to reel it in a bit and start cooking more often.
This week, I wanted to share with you a recipe for Vietnamese chicken curry, or cà ri gà. Although there is some waiting involved with the marinade and extra care taken with the root vegetables, this curry recipe is fairly easy to make. This is, yet another recipe, that I have been lucky enough to grow up eating as a child.
The word “curry” makes me think FLAVOR. Whether its Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, Japanese (<— this one’s insane–it’s almost like gravy), I can be sure that curry is going to taste pretty intense, and have a great aroma.
You can use any cut of chicken you like for this Vietnamese curry recipe, however getting one with bones gives the chicken some size or bulk so it isn’t bullied around by the potatoes and carrots. Use wings, thighs, drumsticks, or even whole or half chickens. Just use a cleaver to split large pieces into about 3″ ones so they are uniform and finish cooking at the same time.
Using a cut of chicken here with skin will taste better and add fat so you can brown these in the pan without using any additional oil.
We’ll be deep frying the potatoes and the carrots, so that they form a skin on the outside and don’t disintegrate into the curry during cooking over stirring the pot. Deep frying them also par-cooks it so they don’t need to stew as long in the broth.
Lemongrass is super tough and woody, and it’s fairly cheap to buy in bunches. Just cut these down to keep in the freezer bags. They store quite well.
The vibrant yellow color from this curry is enhanced with coconut milk! Don’t add this until the end though, to keep the color from getting all murky. If you can’t hang with, or are allergic to coconut, some people like to sub in half & half or milk for this. It obviously tastes a little bit different, but for the Vietnamese flare, stick with coconut.
This curry goes well with a fresh loaf of bread. Those french style baguettes you find at Vietnamese bakeries are perfect for this–kind of airy but still crusty. If you don’t happen to be around any Vietnamese baguette shops, any crusty baguette will do. I enjoy eating this with rice too, but I don’t think you’ll find any restaurants serving it that way!
- 2 lb chicken (any cut, chopped into large 2-3″ pieces)
- 1½ lb potatoes
- ½ lb carrots
- 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
- 4 gloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 stalks lemongrass, cut into 5″ pieces then split lengthwise, smashed to expose more leaves
- 3 bay leaves
- ½ cup coconut milk
- oil for frying
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2-3 cups chicken broth
- 2-3 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- Cut chicken into large 2-3″ chunks if using large pieces.
- Add salt, onion powder & curry powder to chicken. Marinate for 2-4 hours.
- Cut onions and carrots into 2″ chunks, deep fry until lightly browned.
- After marinating, brown chicken on all sides in small batches in a pot, skin side down first. Add oil if you’re using skinless.
- Remove chicken, drain fat and clean off any burned residue in the pot.
- Add some oil to the pot on low heat and sweat onion until soft, then add garlic until lightly brown.
- Return chicken to the pot with lemongrass, bay leaves, and sugar.
- Add 50% water and 50% chicken broth to the pot until all ingredients are fully submerged.
- Put the flame on high until boiling, reduce to medium-high heat to maintain a low boil.
- After 5 minutes of low boil, taste the broth and adjust with salt, sugar, and curry powder to taste if needed.
- Add potatoes and carrots, and more water and chicken broth to cover (50/50 ratio).
- Return the flame to high heat, then reduce to a low boil until the chicken is fully cooked, and the potatoes and carrots reach desired doneness.
- Add coconut milk until it hits a boil, then turn off the heat.
- Serve with bread, accent with a squeeze of lemon and sambal for heat.
