A chicken rice dish. One of the first chicken recipes on the blog. I don’t cook a lot of meat these days but dating an Australian boy means meat is bound to show up on the table at least once a week. I am also excited to share Dad’s two-ingredient chicken soup over here at some point.

I attended a Thai cooking class in Australia last winter and loved the chef’s observation of the Asian versus North American diet. The average meat portion in America being 120 grams/person while being 30 grams or so in Thailand. I like the idea — small amounts, shared plates. Growing up, my parents didn’t get to eat a lot of meat as it is more expensive. Mom would get a single hard-boiled egg (dyed pink) on her birthday as a special treat. Oftentimes a meal would be soy sauce with lard poured over a bowl of rice. But if you were to attend any meal hosted by family or friends, you can be sure there will be at least one meat dish on the table

This dish is delicious and easy to whip up. I added some purple onions to give it colour and will try adding vegetables next. Substitute the chicken with tofu or whatever protein you have. Hold back on the red chilies if you need them, they were the perfect amount of almost-too-spicy for me.

Vietnamese Black Pepper Chicken

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 pound chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces (sub chicken thigh or protein of choice)

• 2 tbsp oil

• Sprinkle of salt

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

• 1/4 cup fish sauce

• 1/4 cup water

• 3 tbsp rice vinegar

• 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced into rings

• 1/2 purple onion, sliced thinly(optional)

• 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 dried red chiles (sub fresh Thai chilli, chopped into pieces)

• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• Cilantro for garnish

• Steamed jasmine rice for serving

Instructions

1. In a bowl, combine chicken, half of the oil, and a sprinkle of salt. Mix to combine. 

2. In a small saucepan, add the water, rice vinegar, fish sauce, and brown sugar. Give it a stir. Heat until the sugar dissolves, and then turn it down to a simmer.

3. In a skillet, heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Add the shallots (and onion, if you are using any) and cook for one minute. Add the ginger, then garlic, and fry until aromatic or until the shallot is lightly caramelized. Add the chicken, red chile, and cook for two minutes, flipping the chicken halfway.

4. Add 3/4 of the fish sauce from the saucepan into the chicken along with the black pepper. Cook over medium-high heat for another 6-8 minutes, until the sauce reduces and the chicken is done. Taste and add more fish sauce if you’d like. If you do, bring the skillet to a simmer again. 

5. Transfer contents of skillet to a bowl, serve over rice with cilantro.

*Recipe adapted from Charles Phan