FEATURED ON TASTEMADE: Mom’s Vietnamese Chicken Curry- “Ca Ri Ga” Recipe

Cà Ri Gà is a Vietnamese chicken curry that's super flavorful and oh so comforting.

My mom was taught this recipe from her mother and has been making this dish for our family since I was born.  It's a very simple dish and my mother never followed an actual recipe. It was always perfectly balanced with its savory, spicy and sweet flavors. 

The chicken curry is simply seasoned with coconut milk, lemongrass, fish sauce, and Vietnamese Madras curry powder which gives it that signature Vietnamese curry flavor.

It's a beautiful looking dish.  The rich and vibrant colors of this dish comes from the orange butter nut squash, orange carrots and yellow curry powder. It's incredibly aromatic and with its nod to French cuisine this chicken curry thinner and perfectly paired with a warm French baguette. And, although it's much lighter than curries from other countries like Thai, Indian or Japanese curry, it still has a very rich and heavenly aromatic broth.

Vietnamese chicken curry is traditionally served over rice noodles, a bed of hot jasmine rice, or dipped and served with a crispy baguette.  This is one of my favorite comfort foods that always brings me back to my childhood especially when served over rice noodles with all the traditional Vietnamese herbs. 

PS: I like to use a mix of D&D Gold Product “madras curry powder” found in Vietnamese grocery stores with regular curry powder.   Since some of the madras curries can make the curry a little darker/brown'ish in color I like to cut that curry powder with some regular curry (the bright yellow colored variety). 

You can also sun out the chicken for pork, tofu or any seafood like fish.

Tips: 

• Sear potatoes and carrots so they don't fall apart in the pot. 

• If you want to make it thicker, add a corn starch slurry of 2 tbs of cornstarch to a few tbs of cold water and add to stew

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs (bone or boneless, skin or skinless)
2 1/2 lbs chicken drum sticks (bone, skin on)

Chicken marinade seasoning:
1 1/2 tsp sea salt 
2 tsp sugar 
1/2 Tbsp chicken Bouillon Powder
1/2 Tsp white Pepper/black pepper
2 Tbsp Vietnamese Madras Curry Powder
1 Tsp annatto Seed Powder or tumeric powder (for color)
1 1/2 tbs fish sauce

Curry:
3-4 tbs vegetable oil 
2 medium shallots (peeled and loosely chopped)
1 medium onion (peeled and loosely chopped)
7  garlic cloves (minced)
5 stalks fresh lemongrass (white parts only, just trim off a little of the root bulb and cut off green tops, about 5-6" segments, smashed) 
4 lime leaves (or kefir leaves) 

3-4 cups water or chicken stock
1/2 tbsp chicken bouillon Powder
1 tbs tomato paste
4 carrots cut into 1" chunks
2-3 medium potatoes (russet and/or sweet potatoes cut into about 2-3" chunks)
1 sweet potato or butternut squash (cut into chunks) 
1 can coconut milk 
1-2 tbs fish sauce (to taste)
Salt (to taste)

Garnish:

Lime wedges 
Cilantro loosely chopped
Scallions (thinly sliced)
Mint
Vietnamese herbs (as seasonably avail) 

To serve:

Serve with vermicelli bun nooodles, french baguette, or jasmine rice

PREPARATION

1. Marinate chicken in fridge for 2 hours or overnight for best results. . 

2. In a dutch oven, add oil on medium high heat until oil is hot and glossy.  Then toss onions until just fragrant, then remove and set aside in a bowl. 

3. Add more oil and brown the potatoes, squash, carrots a little in the oil. This will keep the veggies from falling apart in the soup. Then remove and set aside in a bowl. 

3.  Add a little more oil then add shallots and garlic and mix until fragrant, don't burn the garlic. 

3. Push all the aromatics to the side, and combine chicken into pot with the oil and let the chicken brown some in the pan. Then add some water (or chicken stock) to cover (be sure to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan when adding water), add chicken bouillion, fish sauce and bring to a boil and immediately reduce down to a medium simmer.  Let simmer for 30 min stirring occasionally. 

4. Add vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onion).  Reduce heat to low-medium until veggies are mostly cooked.  Then add coconut milk (do not let coconut oil boil or it will curdle and get lumpy says mom).  Leave a small crack open for the lid so it doesn't boil over. Let lightly simmer for about 10-15 more min until veggies are cooked kind of tender. Add water as needed to keep it from broth from reducing out and burning. 

5. Taste and season with salt, black pepper, and/or fish sauce as needed.  Taste, adjust seasoning (salt, fish sauce) to taste.

If you need to add another tbs of curry or so for more curry flavor, do so by toasting it in a little oil separately in a pan before adding it into the curry soup. 

6. Cook noodles according to package, run under cool water and strain.

6.  Serve hot: plate some noodles in a bowl, ladle in some curry, then garnish with cilantro, herbs, scallions and a little squeeze of lime.