Vietnamese Style Crispy Skin Chicken

 This is less a recipe, than an arrangement of flavours and textures. I love these simple meals that are so totally delicious, and as long as the ingredients are in the pantry, can be whipped up in no time. Speaking of pantries, this one requires a few ingredients that need to be sourced from your local Asian grocer – HELLO shopping expedition! Yaaaaaasssss! Ok, so its fair to say that since childhood I have been totally obsessed with Asian supermarkets. It was (and still is) one of my favourite activities to spend hours poring over all the ingredients that seemed so exotic to me as a child. Whenever I travel to a new country, one of my first ports of call is a supermarket, wet market and grocers, you can absorb so much of a culture from its food, give me a grocer over a monument any day!

So, back to the crispy chicken. Most Asian grocers have a frozen vegan section where the mock meats live. This recipe calls for a product called chicken fillet. I buy the Lamyong brand, and love everything about it, especially how crispy you can get the outside. While you are in the grocer, have a look for a vegan fish sauce so you can make a jar of your own dipping sauce to keep in the fridge. I make a massive one, and serve it with everything from salads as a dressing, to spring rolls and of course this crispy hot mess. Pick up some birds eye chilli, frozen minced lemongrass, pandan leaves, and a bunch of mint while you’re there, and some glutinous rice. Ready to rumble?

Ingredients

 2 fillets of vegan chicken, thawed

Vegetable oil for shallow frying

 Marinade

2T light soy sauce

1T sesame oil

1T lemongrass minced

1T sugar

Coating

Rice flour

Pinch Five spice powder

Pinch white pepper powder

Pinch salt

Dipping sauce (combine all ingredients in a jar and leave to infuse)

¼ cup fish sauce

¼ cup hot water

1 birdseye chilli sliced (to taste)

1 clove garlic minced

2T sugar

2T fresh lime

Sticky Rice

½ cup glutinous rice (soaked and rinsed)

½ cup jasmine rice

1 pandan leaf

2 cups water

1t salt

Garnish

Sliced cucumber

Sliced red onion

Sliced tomato

Coriander, Vietnamese mint, bean shoots, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds

Let’s DO This!

1.     Marinate the chicken and leave to flavour up.

2.     Place rice, salt and water in a pot. Bring to boil, turn down to low and cook until water is absorbed completely, about 12 mins. Leave in pot with lid on (or use a rice cooker)

3.     Mix together flour and spices. Shake excess wet marinade off the chicken.

4.     Coat in flour until well covered.

5.     Heat enough oil in a frypan to shallow fry the chicken. When the oil is hot, fry chicken on each side until crispy, remove and place on paper towel. Cut into slices

6. In a large shallow bowl for each serve place a scoop of sticky rice, lay the sliced crispy chicken over the rice. Garnish with sliced salad vegetables, herbs and peanuts. Serve dipping sauce with the dish for each lucky punter to pour over before they smash into it.