January 23, 2012 is a date I will always remember. It was the day in Hoi An, Vietnam that my husband proposed. Why were we in Vietnam? Well for one, we love to travel. But two (for those who don’t know already) Dan used to work for an outdoor travel company called Backroads. He took guests on 3-10 day trips all over the world via bike. Guests would pack up, show up, and he and the Backroads guides would take care of the rest: getting your bike ready, telling you where to ride, making gourmet lunches, arranging hotel stays and dinners, and moving your luggage from hotel to hotel while you rode. In the spring and fall he would run trips in the California Wine Country. In the summer he would go wherever: Hawaii, Vermont, Death Valley, Switzerland, or Yellowstone to name a few. Every winter, he would head to a part of the world where it was summer: Thailand, New Zealand, or Vietnam.
After we got serious, Dan decided he was done living the life of a traveling nomad. He had already had a career, left it for backroads, traveled with them for seven years, and was ready to settle down (lucky me!). He went to New Zealand and Vietnam for the winter of 2011-2012. Knowing it was his last trip and having been fortunate enough to have already visited New Zealand before, his parents and I decided to take advantage of having our own personal tour guide show us around Vietnam.
If you don’t already think I love food enough, we took not one, but TWO cooking classes in Vietnam. One in Hanoi and one in Hoi An. The dishes we made in both were so diverse and so delicious. The Hoi An class (pictured below) was so memorable because we had just gotten engaged the night before! One of the dishes we made was a fantastic skewered, grilled chicken.
The chicken was delicious! It had SO much flavor to it. We were given all the recipes at the end, but I have no clue where mine are. I’m not one for recipes anyway. I always look at them to make a shopping list and start cooking intending to follow it, but then off I go adding more of this, less of that, why not some of this or that too, and sooner or later I’m not even looking at it.
This is my version of the Vietnamese chicken we had that day. It would be fantastic grilled as we cooked it that day. If you can find fresh turmeric, try it! It looks a bit like ginger and is prepared the same way (peel the skin and finely mince or grate it). However, take caution: the fresh turmeric will stain your hands, nails, and whatever else it touches a neon yellow. It’s as if you drew with yellow highlighter all over your nails and hands. I prefer using rubber gloves when handling it. Or as I did here, use the dried ground turmeric. Super quick, super flavorful.
We ate the chicken sliced and rolled in lettuce as wraps, but the chicken is delicious on its own as well.
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 inch cube ginger, minced
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 red cherry bomb pepper, seeded and finely diced (or whatever chili you like)
- ½ teaspoon both salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- In a large container (like a baking dish or sealable plastic gallon-size bag) combine all ingredients except the chicken and mix thoroughly.
- Add the chicken and thoroughly massage the marinade all over the chicken. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, up to overnight in the refrigerator.
- Heat a large skillet or electric skillet over medium heat. Working in batches trying not to overcrowd the pan, cook the chicken 4-5 minutes on each side.
- Serve with lime wedges.
thank you for the recipe, it was great!