Chicken Curry From Our Vietnamese New Year Celebration

Welcome to the year of the Horse. I hope you will enjoy this dish and the Vietnamese chicken soup. They will give you a glimpse into my family’s gathering and the traditions we have developed over the years. My Ma was a wonderful cook. Preparing her classic dishes brings back warm memories of our times together. I’m glad to share with you the story of our new year celebration this year.

MA’S Chicken Curry Recipe

Ingredients:

3-4 Lb chicken, cut into 4-5 inches pieces
5 large or 10 small garlic cloves chopped
1 large white onion chopped fine
3 inches of fresh ginger chopped fine
1 small onion, sliced and set aside
1 Tbs red pepper flakes
1 Tbs salt
2 Tbs sugar
3 Tbs curry powder
1 Tbs galangal root powder
3 heaping Tbs red curry paste
20-30 curry leaves
10-12 large red potatoes, cut into quarters
12 oz Half and half or a 12 oz can of Coconut milk
Lime wedges for garnish or salt mixed with crushed hot peppers for dipping meat

Directions:

1. Grind the garlic, white onion and ginger together in a blender. If you don’t have a blender, just make sure you chop everything real fine! 
2. Mix these with the red pepper flakes, salt, sugar, curry, galangal powder, red curry paste and curry leaves. Then mix well with the chicken pieces and refrigerate for several hours ( My mom used to marinate them overnight but Vietnamese cookbooks tend to ask for only a few hours). If you can’t find galangal root, just replace it with more ginger!
3. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp oil on high for about 5 minutes
4. Decrease the heat to medium, add the chicken and, stirring regularly, cook for about 10 minutes or until brown.
5. When the mixture has a little natural liquid in the skillet, cover and cook, stirring every so often, until the liquid has thickened a little.
6. Add about 2 cups of water to the skillet and after 5 minutes, take the chicken piece by piece and transfer it to the pot with the potatoes while letting the juice in the skillet condense before adding it too to the pot.
7. Cook the chicken on medium heat and add the half & half or coconut milk, making sure the heat is not too high. 
8. Cover the pot and decrease the heat to medium low and cook for about 30 minutes (or until the potatoes are tender and done), then add sliced onion and turn off the heat.

When serving, my mom used to have a plate of lime wedges and a dish with salt mixed with crushed fresh hot pepper for those who want to dip their chicken pieces to have an even more spicy taste

This dish is great with rice or French bread! The leftover is even more tasty the day after, as the spices settle into the sauce.