This week I’m going to cook some dishes that make full use of the wide range of ingredients available in this part of the world. I bought a large chicken (from a supermarket, not a wet market as per the photo above) and some fresh South East Asian ingredients like coriander, lemongrass, lime, chilli, kaffir lime leaves, and galangal. These are all wonderfully fragrant ingredients that, when combined, evoke a distinctly South East Asian flavour.
Here are the 3 dishes I’ll be cooking:
Laotian chicken salad (Larb Gai), made with fresh herbs, chilli and lime juice, and served with sticky rice.
Vietnamese lemongrass chicken (Ga Xao Xa Ot), marinated overnight in an assortment of spices and braised with homemade chicken stock.
Famous spicy clear soup from Thailand (Tom Yum Goong), with prawns, mushrooms and homemade Thai chilli jam (Nam Prik Pao).
First of all, I cut the chicken up to give 2 skinless breasts, 2 whole legs, and 2 wings. The breast meat will be used for Larb Gai, legs and wings for lemongrass chicken, while the remaining carcass will be used to make an Asian chicken stock for the Tom Yum soup. You can also use this stock to make any Asian soup or braised dish - much tastier and better for you than anything you can buy at the supermarket.
Asian Chicken Stock
Rinse chicken carcass and any other trimmings like feet, neck, wings under cold water, place into a big pot and cover with cold water.
Add to the pot:
Bunch of spring onion, cut into 10cm pieces and tied together
A few thick slices of ginger
2 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon whole peppercorn
1 star anise (optional)
Bring water to a simmer, being careful not to boil, and skim off any impurities that come to surface. Simmer for at least 2 hours, adding more water if required.
Remove from heat and pour stock through a sieve to remove the solids. Skim off the fat and set stock aside for future use.
