I was watching an episode of Luke Nguyen's Vietnam. This recipe fascinated me. It was like being in the lanes of Hanoi all over again. Shopping for little nothings from quaint corners, buying local art with the blazing red eye catching flowers on canvases everywhere, sitting to eat on really low plastic chairs and thanking the heavens with every intake of the brilliant textures of quail-squid-clams-what not, hearing the shrill sweet noises of rubber horns on local rickshaws, drooling over innumerable mugs from the romantic coffee repertoire, and wanting to eat more and more and everything that was on display at every street joint. Yes, Vietnam wins hands-down amongst many destinations that I have been lucky to visit and a re-visit with girlfriends is now on the bucket list. Who wants to come with me? You can enlist only and only if you are a lover everything that is delicious.
Back to my recipe. I could not remember all the steps that the brilliant chef was showing on telly and I also would not be ambitious to recreate his version because his essential ingredient was fresh green little bunches of peppercorns which he plucked from trees in a pepper plantation. This lucky act of cooking amidst the green under the liquid blue sky on a rustic stove itself I am sure will make his creation top class. But try my version that I share with you from my black and white modern kitchen in Mumbai. My recipe is a take-off from his with my own twists in it.
I used a kilo of chicken on the bone. Wash it well and marinate with about 4 pods of crushed garlic, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar and about 20 pearls of roughly crushed peppercorns. Keep it overnight.
Also remember to source 1 large tender coconut with abundant water in it. Dice 1 tomato. Keep ready half an inch of 'galangal' and bruise it. Also keep ready a sprig of lemon grass. I like to use 4 or 5 red bird eye chillies for the recipe.
On the day of cooking which is the next day, shallow fry the chicken making both sides burnt golden. Slice 1 red onion and take 4 or 5 pink shallots. Side-wise make slant cuts of 6 or 7 baby corn tubes.
In a warm wok, add the chicken along with the pan oil, the baby corn, the onions, the shallot, the 'galangal', salt to taste, 2 tsp freshly ground pepper powder, the bird chillies and the tomato. Toss everything in the heat for 3 minutes at high flame. Now is the refreshing addition to the recipe. Pour in the whole coconut water and bring to a boil. Toss in the lemon grass and allow the chicken to simmer at medium heat for a good 10-12 minutes till it softens. Pierce the meat to ensure it is soft. Add about 3 tsp full fish sauce.
Pour on sticky rice or brown rice and dig in while it is fresh from the wok. Delicacy...sublimity..., sophistication.... rich sweetness.......peppery sharpness - these are the sensations which will overwhelm you.
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