Ga Kho Gung (braised ginger chicken)

Last night I had my first experience at cooking actual Vietnamese food and I have to admit....it was pretty FUN! The interesting part about it all, is the little things that you run into that you DON'T know how to do! Fruits and Vegetables all seem pretty self explanatory until you attempt to cook them! Anyways, the recipe that I used goes like this.

Ga Kho Gung

(braised ginger chicken)

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs. of chicken thighs

• 1/3 cup fish sauce

• ¾ cup white sugar

• 1/3 cup rice vinegar

• 1/3 cup water

• 2 cloves chopped garlic

• 1 knob ginger

• ½ white onion chopped

• 2 tlbs. Fish sauce for marinade

• 1 tbls. White sugar for marinade

• 2 tbls. Cooking oil

• 2 green onions sliced ½ inch thick for garnish

Preparation:

(I used bone in chicken thighs that I skinned and cut up.) Marinate the chicken with the fish sauce and sugar for at least ½ hour. In the meantime, in a small bowl combine ¾ cup sugar, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup fish sauce until dissolved.

Heat your oil on high until hot. Then put in your chicken pieces and allow them to sear in the oil for just a second before pouring about ½ of the sauce you mixed into the pan. Allow the chicken to continue to sear into the sauce until nice and brown. Flip the chicken over and pour in the rest of the sauce. Add the chopped garlic, ginger, and white onion into the sauce and stir around to make sure everything is covered. Keep the heat on high and cover the pan until the chicken is cooked thoroughly which took me about 10 minutes. After I turned off the heat and allowed the sauce to thicken and cool. I then added the green onions to garnish, served it with rice.

Now for my adventure! first question was bone in or boneless chieken? I decided Bone-in because usually bone in chicken will have the tendency to give more flavor and come out more tender, but I wasn't sure whether to skin it or not. I decided to skin it because sometimes the skin can cause the chicken to add more grease to to the dish.

after I skinned and trimmed the fat off of each piece of chicken I cut each piece into smaller pieces and prepared it to be marinated. I left it in the fridge much longer then the 1/2 hr. the recipe recommended for the marinade. After I had everything else prepared to make the dish I would say it marinated about 50 minutes. 

first step was to make the sauce in a small bowl.

I was hesitant on using white sugar instead of brown but after it finally finished I have NO REGRETS! haha

My next challenge was the ginger root!

I have never really thought about this vegetable before...first question was do I peel it? haha and the answer is YES! it is very easy to peel. I read about someone using a spoon to do it but I just used my knife. I carefully just peeled back the layers to reveal the yellow center underneath. I then used my knife to cut up the root. This has to be the most unique smelling ingredient I have ever used! It had this interesting spice to it and I couldn't wait to see what it did to the dish. 

I cut up all of my ingredients into small bowls like the do on tv and then put everything next to the pan ready to go in as I heated my oil.

after it got hot. I seared my chicken in the pan for a second and poured in half of the sauce to sear with it. 

at this point, everything smelled SOO good! I couldn't wait to finally have everything done and see exactly how I did! haha but at this point it was time to flip the chicken so I had to contain myself! I then flipped the chicken and added the remained sauce. I left everything to boil together on high and waited patiently as it cooked under that steaming deliciousness of broth. After it was finished I topped it with the green onions I chopped to garnish.

I could of eaten this RIGHT out of the pan! BUT to be civilized I of course made a plate. I took a picture of my boyfriend's plate first because he made it look so pretty! haha

We both gobbled down this dish like it was the last meal on earth! haha I am very proud of my first dish and can't wait to figure out what's next! Kyle's exact words after he finished was "I have to be honest babe, that was REALLY good BUT I could of eaten a lot more then what you made!" 

I am glad he enjoyed it because honestly he is probably my worst critic! lol I hope this finds its way to someone who can use this information and if you ever have any questions please feel free to ask. I will continue posting as I learn my way through Vietnamese cuisine and it's amazing ingredients! Thanks for listening! <3

For the love of rice

I have always had this love for rice. I could eat it with ANYTHING! The smell alone can make me hungry. I have always wanted to cook vietnamese food but I have been so americanized that I never knew where to begin. I grew up in an american family, had all american friends and even dated american. People around me are always willing to try different food but I have never had enough courage to make it since I am the only one that had this unique love for rice.

I have made asian friends but I always felt that I could never just jump right in with them because I don't know the FIRST thing about being vietnamese. All of the food and culture is so different then what I am used to. All of these different sized bowls of different ingredients. Cooking things as you eat it, knowing when to add what....and do I even need to mention the skill of using chopsticks?! It might not sound as intimidating as I'd like to think but I never wanted to be the white girl that had to ask what I was eating...haha

The fascination of it just grew larger year after year. I finally gave in to the love of rice and started eating it by myself. My boyfriend wanted his macaroni or potatoes and I would make rice for me. I always talked about cooking the food but deep down I knew he liked his steak and potatoes and I just wasn't going to cook something no one would eat. One night we were watching t.v. and came across Anthony Bourdain - no reservations. I never could get into cooking shows because I just am not interested in all of those small portioned, fancy dishes. After about 10 seconds of watching No Reservations I realized he was in Vietnam!! I have never been so excited watching t.v! Watching the daily life and listening to the families was so amazing! I realized, at the moment how much MORE I wanted to know!

I talked it over with my boyfriend and he said that he loves asian food! He said his best friend growing up was vietnamese and he LOVED eating there for dinner! SERIOUSLY?! Where has this information been all my life?! LOL So that was enough to light the fire on my stove! I passed the show onto my sister and began doing research on vietnamese food. I was so infused with everything that I read. Notes started flowing through my notebook and bookmarks started getting saved one by one into my computer. I researched everything from ingredients, to recipes, to how to pronounce menu items! 

My favorite website that seems to have EVERYTHING I could possible need is called The Ravenous Couple. They describe Vietnam in so many aspects as well as the food and recipes that they have made themselves. Tonight I will try my first recipe called Ga Kho Gung or also know as braised ginger chicken. This recipe was inspired by The Ravenous Couple however since it is my first attempt at cooking I am going to also use this video I found by Daoliciousfoods . I will post pictures as I go and let you know how it turns out. I am so excited about this journey and I hope you will continue this with me! Thanks for listening <3