Comments on: Spicy Lemongrass Chicken (Ga Kho Xa Ot)

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:40:38 +0000

Jenna, we use the ‘three crabs’ brand of fish sauce.

By: jenna

jenna — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:50:53 +0000

Heychuck, I was wondering what type of fish sauce you use?

By: Samantha

Samantha — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:16:36 +0000

Great Tip: Use skin-on chicken thighs but remove skin and fat for rendering. Wash and cook fat and skin over medium heat (cover) until skin is crispy like fried chicken skin. Use that rendered chicken fat instead of vegetable oil. It really adds an extra richness that vegetable oil doesn’t.

You could always just keep the skin on when you make this dish but, I’ve never really liked the texture of soft braised chicken skin.

Chicken fat is a great substitute for vegetable oils in chicken braises and stir-fries.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:52:55 +0000

Steve, the goal is to get a rich, dark caramelized color to the sugar. I think you should add more heat. The sugar can burn easily if you aren’t attentive and throw the chicken in once it turns the right dark brown color. The sugar my clump once you throw the chicken in, but that’s ok, as it will dissolve again. I hope that helps.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:56:40 +0000

I had the same issue with the sugar as Ros had. Once it was disolved it immediately clumped togehter. Should I add more heat? Please help
Thanks

By: Ros

Ros — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 06:07:55 +0000

Oh help! I really am a great cook, but despite following the instructions very carefully twice now, I am failing at caramelizing the sugar! I do as instructed and my sugar never dissolved in the oil. The nearest it got was to stay granular on the bottom of the pan, and the when it did start to change color, it the crystals got larger and then clumped together. On the third try, we decided to try caramelizing the sugar the way we do for other recipes with a small amount of water in a heavy saucepan. We added the chicken and onion to the hot oil right before we reached dark brown on the sugar, and then added it together. My recipe looks much like yours only the sauce is not as dark and the chicken looks anemic. The taste is wonderful, absolutely fabulous, but I am totally bothered by not being able to get it to work. Input would be fabulous!

Oh, and if I may humbly request one more thing, we would love a recipe for egg fu yong that is made with bean thread noodles as the main base. A local restaurant serves it and it looks much like the traditional, but there are no bean sprouts, has lots of bean thread and the sauce is not as gloppy.

Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes!

By: Lemongrass chicken w. caramelized onion & Vietnamese style quiche | CARLTON GROVE by Abby

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:43:26 +0000

[...] I love learning how to cook stuff from people… saves me time trying to find an authentic one on the internet. My friend taught me how to make the egg thing, its supposed to go with ‘nouc nam’ sauce. And the lemongrass chicken recipe can be found here. [...]

By: Harris Gershman

Harris Gershman — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:07:29 +0000

I’ve been making this for months! Great dish. I made major tweaks however. I used both ginger and (prepared) lemongrass together. Also, I added chopped daikon, chunks of carrots, reconstituted shitakes and, on occaision, chinese sausage slices. The carrits and mushrooms absorb the “sauce” and are killer. Thanks for the lead.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:35:57 +0000

Jeannette, fresh chilies are preferable. And you can use any type of chili pepper you like.

By: Jeannette

Jeannette — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:28:38 +0000

Hi – I just ate this dish for the first time at Miss Saigon restaurant in Washington, DC. It was sooo good! I am making it this weekend for my fiance’s birthday dinner. I am wondering if I should be using dried chilis or fresh? Thanks!