Gà Xào Sả Ớt

Vietnamese chicken stir-fried with a great deal of minced lemongrass and chilli, glazed with fish sauce and caramelised sugar

Origin: Huế & Central Vietnam

From the journey of Lemongrass.

Gà xào sả ớt is chicken stir-fried with lemongrass and chilli, and the name lists the dish: gà, chicken; xào, stir-fried; sả, lemongrass; ớt, chilli. It belongs to the centre of Vietnam, the country of Huế, where cooking runs hotter than in Hanoi or Saigon, and it is now made in every Vietnamese home kitchen. The lemongrass is minced very fine and used in quantity, so that it fries into crisp, fragrant flecks that cling to the chicken, and the sauce is a little fish sauce and sugar taken to a light caramel in the pan. It is an everyday dish, eaten with plain rice or broken rice, and a cook judges it by the lemongrass: too coarse and it is stringy, too little and the dish is merely a chicken stir-fry.

Ingredients

Chicken

  • 600 g boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces

Marinade

  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 0.5 tsp ground turmeric (optional)

Stir-Fry

  • 4 stalks of lemongrass, tender core very finely minced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 3 red bird's eye chillies, sliced
  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1.5 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp water

To Finish

  • 2 spring onions, sliced

Method

  1. Toss the chicken with the marinade ingredients and half the minced lemongrass, and leave for 20 minutes.
  2. Heat the oil in a wok over a medium heat and fry the remaining lemongrass for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until golden and crisp. Lift out half and set aside.
  3. Add the garlic, shallots, and chillies and stir for 30 seconds.
  4. Raise the heat, add the chicken, and stir-fry for 5 to 6 minutes until browned on all sides.
  5. Sprinkle over the sugar and let it caramelise for a minute, then add the fish sauce and water and toss until the chicken is cooked through and glazed.
  6. Scatter over the reserved crisp lemongrass and the spring onions, and serve with rice.

Notes

Mince the lemongrass in a food processor if you like, but finish by hand; it should be as fine as sand.

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