Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken- “ Ga Chien Sa Ot “ Recipe

Ga Chien Sa Ot

This was one of our childhood favorites especially in the summer time this time around. Growing up in Kansas my parents would take a yearly religious pilgrimage to Carthage, Missouri for Marian Days. An event that brings in tens of thousands of Vietnamese Catholics in the like of 80,00+ people. We lived in Kansas City which is about a 4 hour drive to Carthage and my parents would always make this dish along with sticky sweet rice for us to eat on the road.

My dad would typically cook these on the grill. But it’s also pretty amazing on a cast iron skillet as well!

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 lbs organic chicken thighs (skin on)

1 medium shallot onion minced - (*optional, about 1/4 cup)

2-3 lemongrass stalks- (outer stems removed, use only the soft parts, cut off dry tops, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of minced lemongrass)

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp white pepper

2 tbsp fish sauce (I used Squid fish sauce but you can use Red Boat, 5 crab, 3 crab or anything that’s premium)

2 tbs Maggi seasoning or light soy sauce (if you can find Maggi Seasoning, use that instead of light soy sauce)

1/2 lime (zest only; or 1 tbs of lemon or lime juice)  

1/4 cup light olive oil

1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tbs honey (or replace with brown sugar)

1/2 long red chili (*optional for extra heat)

1 tsp kosher salt 

2 tbsp vegetable oil or cooking oil (grape seed, or tea seed oil, or light olive oil)

OPTIONAL GARNISHES:

Cilantro, scallions, thai basil, and/or lime wedges

NUOC MAM CHAM DIPPING SAUCE:

PREPARATION:

1. Mince separately lemongrass (use the bulb only. Remove the outer sheath and chop it finely) , shallot, red chili, garlic.

2. Clean/wash chicken, cut off excess fat and pat dry chicken (if you don’t want to handle the chicken, this step can be optional, just dump chicken into a zip lock bag).

3. Add chicken to a large bowl and add 1/4 cup of oil, fish sauce, Maggi, white pepper, sugar, honey and mix well. Then add red chili, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, and lime zest (or lemon or lime juice) and mix again. Place in zip lock bag, remove air, seal bag, massage chicken with marinade and transfer to fridge and marinate overnight for best results.

4. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

5. In a cast iron skillet add about 2 tablespoons oil in large ovenproof cast iron skillet over medium-high heat (there should be enough oil to cover the entire bottom of your pan). Then add chicken to the skillet with the skin side down and cook until golden brown, about 4-10 minutes (this took me about 8 minutes, but it depends on your stove and how many pieces of chicken you are cooking, the bigger or more chicken pieces the longer it will need to cook).

6. Turn the chicken to meat side down and add any remaining marinade left to your skillet and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes. Do not pour the sauce over the chicken or it’ll make the chicken skin soft.

7. Then pop skillet into the oven for an additional 10- 15 minutes until cooked through (chicken should have internal temperature around 165 degrees in thickest part of chicken. Or do the asian trick, flip meat over to meat side up and poke your chopstick through the meat, if red juice or blood surfaces from the probe then it’s not done lol).

8. Garnish with cilantro, scallions and/or lime wedges (all of these are not necessary but adds a little color).

9. Serve with a bowl of sticky/sweet rice (rinse rice, and add half a finger knuckles worth of water). 

Or see baking instructions below:  

Place chicken in the oven in a heat proof greased pan and bake for 20 minutes skin side down in the middle rack of your oven. Then flip the chicken skin-side up and rotate tray 180 degrees and bake for an additional 15-30 minutes until skin is evenly browned and the thickest part of chicken registers 165°F.