I found this recipe both delicious and frustrating. The flavor was very good and the meat eventually turned out great, but I made a recipe error early on and from there, nothing seemed to work as it was supposed to. Mainly, my cooking time was off. I believe this was because I forgot to take the chicken out of the fridge for about an hour before I started roasting it.

It ended up okay, because I just turned the oven up a bit (allowing the skin to get more golden and crunchy too) and gave it a bit more cooking time. This is also a recipe, where, if you have a different cooking time/oven temperature combination that you use regularly, you could just use these marinade/ingredients with your regular method of chicken roasting. I may do that next time myself.

Salad rolls! — recipe here.

We had this with some coconut rice and some salad rolls. Was super good!

Lemongrass Roasted Chicken
Adapted from a recipe by Mai Pham in The Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table
4 tbsp minced lemongrass (I used 4 stalks)
2 tbsp minced shallots (2 shallots)
2 tbsp minced garlic (4 garlic cloves)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp roasted chili paste
1 tsp kosher salt
1 whole chicken (about 3-4 lbs)
2 tbsp minced cilantro
3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup soy-lime dipping sauce

If you are going to marinate the chicken overnight, mince all your lemongrass except 2 stalks (using the bottom of the stalks). Leave this for the roasting. Otherwise, remove half of the lemongrass and set aside in a small bowl. Combine the remaining lemongrass, shallot, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, fish sauce, chili paste and salt in a large bowl.

Add the chicken and turn to coat, tucking some marinade underneath the skin. Pour any excess marinade into the bird cavity. Cover the chicken with plastic wrap, then marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Bring the chicken to room temperature before baking. Okay, so I forgot that last bit. I think that’s why my chicken took longer too cook. Plus, I believe my chicken was closer to 4 pounds. Also, I found that all my marinade B-U-R-N-T on the bottom of the pan. I recommend adding about a cup of chicken broth or stock to the pan before you stick it in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the chicken, breast side down, on a rack in a roasting pan. Brush the back with a little of the vegetable oil. Bake for 40 minutes.

Here’s where I discovered my roasting issues: Turn the bird over and roast until the chicken is cooked and nicely browned, about 20 to 30 minutes more. My chicken was at like 120 degrees after 20 minutes and no where near brown.

Again, probably because my bird was not room temp to start with and it was a bit bigger than 3 pounds. So, here’s what I did — I turned the oven up to 400 degrees F after the 20 minutes at 350, breast-side up. After this tweak, I’d say my chicken took about 20 more minutes to finish roasting. I also added the described-below lemongrass and cilantro paste to the bird at this time, when I turned the oven up.

The original recipe said, about 10 minutes before the chicken is done, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons lemongrass with the cilantro and oil. Brush the mixture on the bird, then continue to roast until it is done and the juices run clear. Here, my oven was hotter and the lemongrass-cilantro was on the bird for probably about 20 minutes. It got nice and brown.

This is how I will do the bird in this recipe next time:

350 degrees F for 40 minutes, breast-side down. Then, flip bird and turn oven up to 400 degrees F. Give it about 15 minutes, then slather on paste. Then another 20 or so minutes to get that all brown. If your chicken is room temperature and/or closer to 3 pounds, this will take less time. Remember, a meat thermometer is your friend here, so monitor the temperature and adjust the cooking time as needed.

After it comes out of the oven and the breast meat is at least 160 degrees F and the dark meat is at least 170 degrees F, let the chicken rest 10 minutes before carving. Serve with Soy-Lime Dipping Sauce, any pan juices and rice.

Soy-Lime Dipping Sauce (No pictures, but it was great!)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 fresh Thai bird chilies, diced finely (or an appropriate amount of chili paste, which is what I used)
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
juice of 1 lime,
with pulp
2-4 tbsp hot water

Combine all ingredients. Stir until well blended. This sauce will keep up to 3 weeks if stored in the refrigerator in a tight-lidded jar.

First off, this is funny — my friend Christy just posted about her salad rolls too! The ones she made look great and she has much better pictures of her “rolling station” than I do. The main difference seems to be that some of her sauce type ingredients are on the inside as well, tossed with the noodles, which sounds like a great idea. My inside ingredients are just plain but wow — this dipping sauce is really tasty!

I’ve actually made these twice in the last month — once with shrimp and once without. I deviated from the original recipe by not using pork and by using spinach instead of a different type of lettuce. I also omitted the bean sprouts. This is one of those recipes where (if you’re not trying for authenticity), you could probably put a lot of different combination in the wrappers and be really happy with the outcome.

I found this on the Splendid Table web site, which is becoming a nice resource for me when I remember to poke around there.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls
Adapted from From The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking, by Mai Pham — I totally want this cookbook!
12 medium-size raw shrimp with shells
8 (12-inch) round rice papers (keep extra on hand just in case you tear some)
1 bag baby spinach (you won’t use the whole bag)
1/4 pound rice vermicelli, cooked in boiling water 4 to 5 minutes, rinsed, and drained
1 red or orange bell pepper, cut into thin strips
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh thai basil leaves

Cook the shrimp in boiling salted water until just done, about 3 minutes. Shell, de-vein, and cut in half lengthwise. Refresh in cold water and set aside.

Just before making the rolls, set up a salad roll “station”. Fill a large mixing bowl with hot water. If necessary, keep some boiling water on hand to add to the bowl if the temperature drops below 110 degrees. Choose an open area on the counter and arrange the following items in the order used: the rice paper, the hot water, a kitchen towel or cloth napkin for working on, and a cutting board or plate to hold all the stuffing ingredients.

Working with only 1 rice paper sheet at a time, dip the sheet, edge first, in the hot water and turn it to wet completely, about 10 - 15 seconds. You will be tempted to leave it on the water for more much longer. Don’t do it. It won’t feel that pliable when you first take it out of the water, but after you finish layering all the ingredients, the wrapper will be nice and soft.

Lay the sheet down on the towel/napkin and stretch the sheet slightly to remove any wrinkles. Line the bottom third of the wet, pliable rice sheet with 3 shrimp halves, cut side up. Make sure the ingredients are neatly placed in a straight row. Place some spinach on top of the shrimp. Next, top with a little vermicelli, bell pepper strips, cherry tomatoes and 2 to 3 basil leaves. I even added a little grated carrot here. Make sure the ingredients are not clumped together in the center, but evenly distributed from one end to the other.

Using your second, third, and fourth fingers, press down on the ingredients while you use the other hand to fold over both sides of the rice paper. (Pressing down on the ingredients is particularly important because it tightens the roll.) With fingers still pressing down, use two thumbs to fold the bottom edge over the filling and roll into a cylinder about 1-1/2 inches wide by 5 inches long. Finish making all the remaining rolls.

To serve, cut the rolls into two equal pieces and place the cut rolls on an appetizer plate. Serve with Vietnamese dipping sauce on the side. If you like, garnish the rolls with mint or cilantro sprigs.

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
Makes 1-1/2 Cups
2 small cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 tsp chili paste
1 fresh Thai bird chili, chopped (optional — I didn’t use)
1/4 cup fish sauce
2/3 cup hot water
2 tbsp fresh lime juice with pulp
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp shredded carrots

Place garlic and chili paste in a bowl and mix briefly.

Combine the garlic mixture with the remaining ingredients. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Ladle sauce into serving bowls and float the carrot slivers on top.

Ah, if there’s one thing that’s bad about the holidays it’s going back to work after a 5-DAY weekend. Oh, that’s harsh. Okay, and so is doing all the dishes. That’s kind of bad too. But I made coffee press after dinner on Thanksgiving and jwa and I had no problem staying up that night and doing like 4 loads of dishes. I wonder why…

We had a very nice Thanksgiving and except for my super-dense, didn’t-seem-to-rise-too-much rolls, everything seemed to turn out pretty well. Kinda sucks I forgot to take any pictures of the food or the people.

::clever segue:: But anyway, this here is something that I like to make for lunches occasionally. It works really well to go right from the pan to a lunch container and then the next day, when you get hungry, you remember you have something good for lunch and it makes you all happy!

Chicken and Cashew Stir-Fry
Recipe adapted from Gourmet magazine
1 bunch scallions, white and green parts chopped
1 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch broccoli florets. chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1/4 tsp dried hot red-pepper flakes
3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup salted roasted whole cashews
Garnish: Sesame Seeds

Pat any excess moisture off chicken, then cut into 3/4-inch pieces and toss with salt and pepper. Heat a wok or 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until a drop of water evaporates immediately.

Add oil, swirling to coat, then stir-fry chicken until golden in places and just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes.

Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add bell pepper, garlic, broccoli, ginger, red-pepper flakes, and scallions to wok and stir-fry until peppers and broccoli are just tender, 5 to 6 minutes.

Stir together broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, and sugar, then stir into vegetables in wok. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes.

Stir in cashews and chicken, along with any juices accumulated on plate. Serve over rice. Garnish with sesame seeds and eat immediately or pack up for lunch the next day. Or both.

Went back to Uwajimaya again and got more wonderful things — like tons of Thai basil and coconut milk (2 cans for $1.50!), assorted frozen dumplings and some white miso paste. Soon we will steam all the dumplings in one sitting and have Janet Reno’s Dance Dumpling Dumpling Dance Party. But for now, there are Spicy Sesame Noodles with tons o’ Thai Basil.

Oh! Also I am entering this contest and I have (I think) perfected my recipe. jwa thinks I should make another test batch though…I think he just wants more chocolate!

Spicy Sesame Noodles with Thai Basil
Adapted from Bon Appétit Magazine
1 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp Asian sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
11/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp hot chili oil
1 tsp salt
12 oz dried noodles (any Asian noodle is fine or even a linguine or spaghetti-type noodle will work)
8 green onions (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
1 orange bell pepper, sliced into small strips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh Thai basil leaves
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Heat peanut oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Transfer to large bowl. Add next 6 ingredients; whisk to blend.

Cook noodles in boiling water. Drain thoroughly and toss with sauce. Add sliced green onions, bell pepper strips and toss to coat noodles.

Let stand at room temperature until noodles have absorbed dressing, tossing occasionally, about 1 hour.

Stir in peanuts and Thai basil; toss again.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Well, hell. It’s hot out again. And here I thought we were going to escape the Summer with sweet, sweet 70’s and sunny weather through the end. Nope. 101 103 degrees Friday and Saturday. Ick. Now’s the time for the chilled pea soup. But Saturday I will try a new gazpacho recipe — that’ll be fun.

Weather aside*, here’s a really tasty dish we had last weekend, way back when it was reasonable out. Originally, it was shrimp and Chinese broccoli in the Gourmet Magazine version, but I sneakily changed that to chicken and green beans. Mahahahahahaha!, says Chef Evil.

Anywhoooo, I found what I am 99% sure is fermented black beans at Uwajimaya. Please, no one tell me this is something else, because they were really good in this. Oh well, if they are some other kind of black bean product, this dish will just become Chicken and Green Beans with Mystery Jarred Black Beans from Uwajimaya. No biggie. But for now:

Printable Recipe pdf!

Chicken and Green Beans with Fermented Black Beans
3/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
3 tbsp Chinese rice wine (preferably Shaoxing) or medium-dry Sherry (I went the sherry route)
3 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb-ish Green Beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 lb-ish boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into very thin matchsticks
2 tbsp fermented black beans, rinsed
3 garlic cloves, minced and ready for trouble
1/2 fresh jalapeno chile (including seeds), or to taste, diced finely
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Stir together broth, rice wine or sherry, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a small bowl until cornstarch is dissolved.

Cook green beans in a large pot of boiling, salted water, uncovered, until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Remove to an ice bath and then drain. Set aside.

Heat wok or large skillet over high heat until a drop of water vaporizes instantly. Pour peanut oil around side of wok, then tilt wok to swirl oil, coating side. When oil just begins to smoke, add ginger and stir-fry 5 seconds. Add black beans, garlic, and jalapeno and stir-fry 1 minute. Working quickly, add chicken, spreading in 1 layer on bottom and side of wok. Cook, undisturbed, 2 minutes, then stir-fry 2-3 minutes more. Add green beans to wok to reheat.

Stir in broth mixture and bring to a boil. Boil, stirring, 2 minutes. Remove from heat and drizzle with sesame oil, then stir to combine. Serve over rice.

We had this with some experimental Green Onion Pancakes. I know my dough was rolled too thick. I think I also added too much flour while kneading.

The recipe is directly from Cooking.com and you can grab it there. Here are my pictures.

Adding green onions to dough

After making a spiral and rolling again — I’m pretty sure this should be thinner, but my dough was starting to tear

Cooking pancakes in peanut oil

Finished product was thick and a bit dense but pretty damn good dipped in a mixture of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and chopped cilantro!

* Although, photoshop is on my mac upstairs. Which means I had to edit all the images up there. In the hot. Wah. That is why this post it up later than I had hoped. Damn you weather!!!

First off, this recipe had a lot of pressure on it. I was opening a package of pork tenderloin so that I could slice it up and marinate it all day while I was at work. Note to self — do not use knives at 7 AM. I sliced the hell out of my finger. So much so that I had to call work and leave the following message:

Hi this is Michelle. I cut my finger and right now I’m walking around the house with it wrapped up in paper towels and packing tape. I’m going to wait until it stops bleeding and probably be in around 9:00 AM. Okay, bye.

All day I was thinking, damn, that pork had better be really freakin’* good. Grrrrrr.

In case you were wondering, my finger is fine and I was actually able to just use a band-aid on it by 8:30 or so and I did make it in to work by 9 AM. So, that ended well.

Originally, I saw this recipe on Bobby Flay’s new show, which, meh, but he has a guest(s) on each week that grill with him. The guest griller that week was Judiaann Woo, who made awesome looking beef ribs. I don’t know why FN just doesn’t give her a show and stop airing all this Next Food Network Star crap. (Although, I must admit, I like Lisa). Anyway, I got to wondering how the marinade would work with the pork tenderloin I had in the fridge. Now, I no longer have to wonder…it’s great.

Printable recipe pdf!

Korean-Style Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Marinade recipe adapted from Judiaann Woo
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp mirin (rice wine)
2 shallots, peeled and minced
pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 small green apple, peeled and finely grated (or use an Asian pear if you can find one)
3 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
pinch black pepper
1 green onion, thinly sliced (optional)
1 pork tenderloin (1-2 pounds), sliced into 1 inch thick rounds

(lack of pictures due to irritation over wounded finger).

Combine the brown sugar through the black pepper. Whisk until sugar is mostly dissolved. Divide in half. Add tenderloin medallions to a large bowl or ziplock bag. Add half the marinade. Refrigerate two hours to overnight (overnight!) Add the other half of the marinade to the container of your choice and also park it in the fridge.

When ready to cook, get a large plate and cover with a couple of layers of paper towels. Place the pork slices down on it. Use some more paper towels to press down on the pork and dry it off. Discard the marinade that the pork was in.

Now, pour the other half of the reserved sauce in a small pot and add about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of chicken stock, bring to a boil and reduce for about 10 or so minutes.

Meanwhile, heat up a skillet and add a little canola oil. Cook the pork about 2-3 minutes per side until done. Remove to a plate and cover with foil for a few minutes.

We had this with some cooked brown rice and pan sauteed carrots and yellow bell pepper. I used toasted sesame oil to cook the veggies.

To serve, put the rice in a big bowl. Place the veggies around the edges of the bowl and the pork in the middle. Top with the green onions, maybe some toasted sesame seeds and serve the sauce on the side.

Leftovers are just as tasty. In fact, the next day at work, L. stopped by my cube and commented on how good my lunch smelled. Ha! Take that finger!

* In my head, it was not freakin’…that is just family blog-speak.

Edited to add –

How much do I love Dr. Horrible? Oh, so, so much. jwa and I have both been singing Freeze Ray all weekend and changing the lyrics to suit our own needs:

With my freeze ray I will stop…the world

with my freezeray
I will take
take the laundry
up the stairs
spread it on
on the bed
and put it all away?

First off, this was amazingly good. I mean I expected it to be tasty but it totally and completely surpassed my expectations. Especially the slaw. And it is finally almost Summer here in Portland. Woo!

Hey — I just realized that while I halved the steak and the slaw portions below, I made a full recipe of the marinade. Hmmm, I used some of that to brush on the meat while cooking, but I probably didn’t need as much marinade as I had, so I think the ratios below are just fine. And, I let the steak marinate in the fridge for about 5 hours. Reviews on epicurious.com also mentioned letting it go overnight. Good advice, I will probably do that next time.

New: Printable recipe pdf!

Grilled Asian Flank Steak with Sweet Slaw
Adapted from Bon Appétit
1/4 cup soy sauce
5 tbsp vegetable oil
5 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger, divided*
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 1 1/2-pound flank steak
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1-2 red jalapeños, diced finely
1/2 tsp orange zest
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
10 ounces of shredded cabbage mix
1/2 cup chopped green onions, divided

Mix soy sauce, oil, 3 teaspoons ginger, and garlic in resealable plastic bag. Add flank steak and seal bag; turn to coat. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes, turning occasionally. Or marinate up to overnight in the refrigerator.

Stir sugar and vinegar in small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves; remove from heat. Add jalapeños and remaining 2 teaspoons ginger. Place cabbage, cilantro, orange zest and green onions in medium bowl. Pour vinegar mixture over and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Let stand while grilling steak, tossing occasionally.

Prepare barbecue (medium heat) or a grill pan over medium-high heat. Grill steak until cooked to desired doneness, about 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer to work surface. Let rest 10 minutes.

Slice steak thinly against grain and serve with the slaw. Use extra cilantro as a garnish if desired.

* I keep my ginger peeled and in the freezer in 1-inch pieces. This works well for me and I always have usable ginger in the house. Here I used a microplane grater to deal with the ginger quickly, which is fast becoming my favorite way to mince ginger.

Here’s a super, tasty soup recipe, especially if your weather is crappy (like ours has been). Or, if there are some sniffles and complaints of sore throats around the house. Oh and last weekend, when it was uh 80 degrees and sunny out, I took the flannel sheets off the bed. Note to self: the flannel sheets stay in the bed until June. Grr.

Ah, hey, I don’t want to scare anyone that’s heading this way in say, uh 2 weeks or so, but it we had hail, rain and uh, snow this weekend. But, I bet in a couple of weeks the weather will be B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L! Really! Sure it will!

Okay, back to the food. This recipe is from the Shoalwater Restaurant and it is really good. I found it online a couple of days ago and couldn’t wait to try it. The lime and the ginger and fish sauce are just a fabulous combination. I altered the amounts a little bit to accommodate a whole can of coconut milk and I added some veggies that I needed to use up. Hooray!

Asian Chicken and Coconut Soup
Adapted from a recipe by Shoalwater restaurant
1 tbsp canola oil
1 small onion, diced
1 cup diced carrots
12 medium shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 large garlic clove, minced
3 cups Chicken Stock
1 lime, juice and finely chopped zest
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp ginger, minced
1/2 tsp roasted chili paste
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
1 cup cooked brown rice
Garnish: Fresh cilantro, chopped

Add oil to a large soup pot and add chicken and brown briefly, 2-3 minutes. Remove and cover with foil until ready to use. To the hot pan, add the onion, garlic, carrots, chili paste and shitake mushrooms. Saute over medium heat until soft, about 6-7 minutes.

Add the stock, lime zest and juice, fish sauce, and ginger and simmer for 5 minutes or so. Add the coconut milk and chicken. Simmer for about 4-5 more minutes.

To serve, add about 1/4 cup of cooked rice to each bowl and ladle the hot soup over the rice. Garnish with cilantro.

This will serve about 4-5 bowls so there will be leftovers. Excellent.

When I made this from The Big Book of Casseroles, I figured it would just be an okay workday lunch and we could use up some salmon we had in the freezer. That is why I didn’t take many pictures of it. But…but…it was good!

The original recipe called for ahi tuna which, personally, didn’t sound that good, but with salmon it was really tasty! I also swapped the papaya in the original for mango.

Oh and jwa liked the casserole too which is always high praise for cheap fish project dishes! Now, I probably wouldn’t use fresh salmon for this but for defrosted frozen salmon it’s perfect — hence the cheap fish (about $7/pound at Trader Joe’s) tag.

FYI, this makes more sauce than you need for the casserole. You can either pass the unused sauce with the cooked casserole or save the extra sauce for a stir-fry or something.

Salmon, Mango and Rice Casserole
2 salmon fillets (about 1 pound total)
2 mangoes, sliced
2 cups cooked brown or white rice
2 cups orange mango juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Asian chili-garlic hot sauce
2 1/2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
Non-stick canola oil cooking spray

Make the sauce first by putting the orange mango juice through the cornstarch in a sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes. Keep warm.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spread rice on the bottom of a baking dish (9 X 13 or 9 X 9) coated with canola oil spray. Arrange salmon over the rice and cover with the mango slices. Pour about half the sauce over the mango slices. Top with the panko breadcrumbs. Spray the top with a little canola oil spray.

Bake, uncovered, until the top is golden and the fish is done, 15 - 20 minutes. Let sit about 5 minutes, then cut and serve. Or pack up to bring for lunch the next day.

Oh and on the wedding front…there’s puppets!

Well, finger puppets anyway…

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.