Reposted and edited from my old blog Where’s My Parade?! Originally posted July 2013.
With the weather being so warm, I wanted to finally break out the Pimm’s and try a food match with it. Something refreshing, tasty and of course, easy. Who wants to be in the kitchen, or indeed, hovering over a BBQ in this heat? Fuggetaboudit.
A quick Google of lemon, ginger and chicken brought me to the Rustic Garden Bistro blog.
Recipe jackpot. Easy, simple and fabulously fragrant, dahlings.
Serves 2-3
1 stalk lemongrass
1 fresh square inch ginger
3 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno pepper
2 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon rapeseed oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
6 chicken thigh fillets
Directions (taken from the Rustic Garden Bistro blog)
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Minimum Passive Time: 1 hour
Grilling Time: 30 minutes
Peel outer layers of lemongrass. Cut off top third of stalk, Cut off root end of stalk. Thinly slice stalk crosswise, then finely chop to mince.
Cut away outer peel of ginger, then mince. Peel garlic clove and mince. Cut Serrano/ jalapeno pepper and mince. Discard seeds for more mild flavor.
In a small sauté pan, combine brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, canola/ rapeseed oil and rice wine vinegar. Slowly heat and stir until palm sugar has dissolved. Then add in lemongrass, ginger, garlic and Serrano/ jalapeno pepper. Bring up to simmer until lemongrass is fragrant; then turn off heat and let mixture cool.Once mixture cools completely, pour into zip lock bag, add in chicken, zip up top (squeezing air out) and let marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Remove chicken from marinade and grill over low heat for approximately 15-20 minutes.
Serve immediately.
I served it with more lime and coriander rice.
You can leave the chicken to marinate for an hour, I left mine overnight. The meat was very juicy and had plenty of flavour. Even with the ginger and jalapeno pepper, it didn’t quite have the kick I expected. Which in fairness is not what I was looking for in this heat, after all, making something refreshing was the original M.O. But it’s worth noting for those who like a good punch of heat in their dishes. Either add extra ginger in or chop up an extra green or red small chilli to bring an extra hit of heat.
This recipe is the Rustic Garden Bistro blogger’s first generation Vietnamese-American mother’s recipe, so for the full info and Kim’s original post, check it out here.
Food done, lets not forget the Pimm’s! For me, it’s the ultimate refreshing summer drink. It was a good day to mix up a batch as it’s synonymous with Wimbledon, and today of course being the men’s final. Hooray for Andy Murray! You’d miss aul goo at Rafa though, eh?
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