Lemongrass Chicken with Vietnamese Noodle Salad

Mumma always said sharing is caring.

You know those days where anything you do, it just goes horribly wrong? That was my day when I made this Lemongrass Chicken. First whilst I was making breakfast, the salt shaker lid came off and fell all through my very delicious ham and cheese scrambled eggs making it in inedible, and the kicker? I had run out of eggs.

I try and be positive so I just made a bowl of oats and moved on. Then comes lunch time and I have a huge craving for Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken Rice Paper rolls. I’ve got all the ingredients ready to go, pre marinated my chicken the night before, noodles have cooked and cooled.

So everything should be just peachy right?

Wrong, for the life of me I could not roll one single roll without the rice paper ripping. I don’t like to say I’m an expert at making them but this ain’t my first rice paper roll rodeo. As I said, one of those days. Best way to deal with this kind of situation is to shove it all in a bowl (minus the rice paper rolls) and call it a Lemongrass Chicken with Vietnamese Noodle Salad (Bun Ga Nuong).

A blessing in disguise. Here’s why:

1. You don’t have to spend time/energy fiddling and rolling
2. You can add way more ingredients to a bowl compared to a rice paper roll
3. Instead of using the peanut sauce (Nước léo) as a dipping sauce it can be used as a dressing. Go HAM on it and cover all the ingredients in it’s delicious peanutty goodness
4. A chance to show off your mad chopstick skills
5. Easily customisable for everyone to add what they like

Watch the video for Lemongrass Chicken with Vietnamese Noodle Salad Here:

I can’t decided what I love most about this bowl. The chewy rice vermicelli noodles, fresh crisp vegetables, the chicken that is flavoured with lemongrass, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, lime, honey and chilli flakes. Once it’s cooked up it becones all caramelised orrrrr the peanut sauce that is so good you could drink it?!

What is lemongrass?

If you’ve never heard or seen lemongrass don’t be intimidate. It’s a grass that grows in tropical climates and has an earthy lemon flavour. It’s sold at most supermarkets, to use it remove the outer hard layers and chop the tender white core for stir frys or marinades. You can also bruise the stalk and use it to flavour soups or rice.

How to make Lemongrass Chicken with Vietnamese Noodle Salad (Bun Ga Nuong)

Whilst you can change up the salad component of this dish depending on what you like. A traditional Bun Ga Nuong in Vietnam will include only the following:

• lettuce
• pickled carrots and daikon
• sliced cucumbers
• bean sprouts
• roasted crushed peanuts

For flavour:

• mint
• coriander
• perilla
• thai basil

Most (read 99%) of the time this dish is served with Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce containing fish sauce, garlic and chilli). I prefer it with this peanut sauce, adds more depth of flavour and coats all the ingredients nicely.

Other stuff you should probably know:

Cook your rice vermicelli at-least an hour before serving, you want the noodles to be cold and chewy.

You can use the marinate with any other kind of protein, be it steak, fish or tofu. Just make sure to marinate whatever you choice over night.

The lemongrass chicken also goes extremely well with a piping hot bowl of rice and some stir fried greens for when the weather is a little cooler.

This recipe can easily be doubled/tripled if you’re entertaining.

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Also if you could rate the recipe below I would be forever grateful – it makes me feel good and also helps me understand what you guys like 😛

In the mood for more Vietnamese Dishes? Check out these ones:

– Bun Cha : Marinated pork slices and meatballs grilled and served in a tangy Vietnamese broth with chewy rice noodles and fresh herbs/veg.
– Vietnamese Chicken Salad : Refreshing and easy Vietnamese Chicken Salad filled with raw crisp vegetables, herbs and poached chicken all drizzled in a tangy slightly spicy Nuoc Cham dressing
– Grilled Pork Rice Vermicelli : Rice noodles served with marinated grilled pork chop, fresh salad veg and a spicy Nuoc Cham dressing

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Mumma always said sharing is caring.