Vietnamese chicken curry is a stew made with marinated chicken, vegetables, and a reduced sauce made from coconut milk and chicken stock. It has French influences and is served with potatoes and French baguette. The chicken is marinated in curry powder, garlic, onions, salt, and pepper and is cooked until the sauce thickens. It can be served over noodles or as a pot pie.
Vietnamese chicken curry, also known as ca ri ga, is a type of thick soup or stew made from marinated chicken cooked with vegetables and a reduced sauce made from coconut milk and chicken stock. Like some other Vietnamese dishes, Vietnamese chicken curry has a slight French influence in the way it’s prepared and served. Spices in the dish include garlic, curry or curry paste, and chili peppers which create a spicy heat countered by the addition of coconut milk. Potatoes – particularly sweet potatoes, although white potatoes may also be used – are one of the main ingredients in the dish. The finished Vietnamese chicken curry can be served in a bowl over noodles, though more often it’s served with a piece of French baguette on the side.
The chicken used in many Vietnamese chicken curry recipes consists of bone-in, skin-on chicken parts that have been cut into manageable chunks. You can use boneless chicken, although they won’t add the same flavors as the skin-and-bone parts. One preparation of the dish uses a whole chicken. The wings, thighs, breasts and legs are all removed and cut into smaller portions, while the remaining parts – including giblets and neck – are used to create the butt.
A marinade of curry powder, garlic, onions, salt and pepper is brewed and applied to the chicken. It is thick enough, so the marinade is rubbed into the surface of the chicken parts. While the marinated chicken, the diced carrot pieces and sweet potato are fried in oil until golden brown on the outside, though they aren’t necessarily cooked all the way through. The vegetables are removed once browned.
The marinated chicken, along with the marinade, is added to the skillet and cooked until the outside is seared. The spicy marinade will roast and pick up flavor as the onions in it cook. The chicken stock is then added to the pan along with the sliced lemongrass and other ingredients. The Vietnamese chicken curry is then allowed to cook until the sauce starts to reduce. When the curry sauce has almost finished cooking, the potatoes and carrots are added back to the pan along with a little coconut milk, which is reduced until the curry is as thick as desired.
The finished Vietnamese chicken curry can be very soupy or it can be so thick that the sauce just forms a coating on the chicken pieces. The chicken can be served over rice noodles or egg noodles, or it can be placed in an oven dish, covered in dough, and baked to make a pot pie. A simple presentation has the curry in a bowl with French bread and a hot chili sauce on the side.
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