Grandma's Vietnamese chicken curry

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year break!  Mine was almost too good.  Suffice to say I do not want to see another bottle of sparkling wine for a long time.  Time for some home cooking!  This is a wonderful, easy but authentic recipe from my friends M & S's mum.  It's a traditional Southern Vietnamese ca ri ga or chicken curry and is really unusual and delicious.  Best of all, it is very kid-friendly!

Ingredients

2 chicken thighs/1 chicken breast
1 Tb Madras curry powder
1 Tb oil, eg rice bran
1 large can coconut milk (try Ayam or Mae Ploy brands)
1 piece lemongrass
2 bay leaves
1 clove garlic
1 onion, cut into large chunks
500 mL chicken stock
1 Tb white sugar
1 Tb or so fish sauce
1 carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into large chunks

Remove visible fat from chicken.  Rub with the curry powder and set aside for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the chicken over medium heat until sealed.  Add a dash of coconut milk (about 1/4 cup) and cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Chop up chicken and return to the pan.  Next, separate the white bulbous part of the lemongrass from the top stalkier bit.  Cut into 2-inch lengths and give them a bash.  Add to the chicken along with the garlic, bay leaf and onion.  Cook for about 3 minutes then add 1 cup of chicken stock, 1 Tb of sugar and about 1 Tb of fish sauce and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add chopped carrot, potato and sweet potato and the other cup of chicken stock.  Cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.  The smell will be absolutely divine!

Add the remainder of the can of coconut milk and heat gently.  Now is the time to taste to see if it needs more fish sauce.  Remove lemongrass before serving.

This delicious curry can be served with rice or noodles but also traditional and best in M & S's (and my) opinion is a crusty bread roll from your local banh mi bakery.  It is so good.  The curry powder is quite sweet itself with very warm spices like cinnamon and just a hint of chilli.  The sauce is rich, abundant and almost like a curry laksa soup.  The root vegetables - seemingly so unusual for a Vietnamese recipe - soak up all the rich sauce and just melt in your mouth.  So supremely comforting.  Try with a glass of sparkling.  Oh my god, did I just say that?

I want to give a little shout-out to my friend Bryan's wonderful blog, let's get fat together.  Bryan is a great writer, takes vivid, wonderful pics and I love his gentle and reflective style.  He is currently getting pui (fat) in Singapore, rediscovering his roots and chronicling his family's Makansutra in the hawker bars and kopitiams of the island city.  Do check it out and Bryan, keep up the awesome work!