The other night I had a hankerin’ to make something a little different. Since jwa and I do enjoy the curry, I decided to give this recipe a try. It’s from the book, Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham and it was really good!
The lemongrass gives it an awesome flavor. Whack your stalks with a rolling pin or a wine bottle, or to live dangerously, the flat side of a knife. You want to kind of crack it open and release all the lemongrassy goodness.
I really didn’t change all that much. I probably used a little less chicken (maybe 1.5 pounds) called for originally and I added halved cherry tomatoes as a garnish.
Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes
3 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
2 pounds skinless chicken thighs
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp chopped shallot
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp ground chili paste or dried chili flakes, or to taste
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
2 lemongrass stalks, cut into 3-inch pieces and bruised with something flat
1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled, cut into 3 slices and bruised with something flat
1 1/2 cups fresh chicken stock or store-bought low-sodium chicken broth
3 carrots, peeled, cut on the diagonal into 2/3-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 yellow onion, cut into wedges
1 medium sweet potato (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
garnishes
1/2 cup basil leaves, cut in half
8 sprigs cilantro, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 scallions, chopped
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
Combine 2 tablespoons of the curry powder and the salt in a bowl. Add the chicken and turn to coat the meat evenly. Set aside for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a medium pot over moderate heat. Add the shallot, garlic, chili paste and the remaining 1 tablespoon curry powder, and stir until fragrant, about 10 seconds.
Add the chicken and cook until the edges of the pieces are golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass, ginger and chicken stock.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Add the carrots and cook for 10 minutes. Add the coconut milk, onion and sweet potato and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with basil, cilantro, tomato halves and scallions, and serve.
what type of chili past did you use? i have 6 very different types in my fridge. any suggestions? im going to try making this in a second and i think i might try using nam prk. let me know!
I just used a jar of roasted red chili paste that I had in the fridge…I think it was Thai Kitchen brand. I would use whatever chili paste that you have on hand that you like the most 🙂
so very good. so simple. what made it better than similar tries? perhaps whacking the two lemon stalks with hefty blows. I used just okay curry powder for 2 tbsp and a penzey’s blend for the final 1 tbsp (something called maharaja curry powder. Had no chili paste (shocking!!) and used hungarian half hot paprika. Organic chicken thighs that I treated carefully when cutting into 1 inch or so pieces. Whatever the reason, it was my best try with this style of soup/stew. I’ve made copies of the recipe to give all of my friends. Also, I always read your blog and cook from it.