After living in Vietnam, specifically Ho Chi Minh City, for about 3 years, my family and I fell in love with Vietnamese food. It is a common sight to see piles of fresh vegetables and herbs on top of a bowl of noodles or rice.

One of such healthy dishes is of course the Vietnamese Noodles with Lemongrass Chicken!! Low in fat, loaded with lots of fresh salads, and showered with the Nuoc Cham dressing. The zingy complex flavour from the fish sauce and lime makes the dish so appetising and awesome!!

One of the key ingredients in Vietnamese cooking is the Vietnamese Fish Sauce, so try to invest in a good bottle as it comes in handy. If you love this dish, you may wish to try some of our other Vietnamese Recipes.

This is easy to prepare and a good dish to consider when you are cooking for a crowd. I kid you not, even when I ran out of the Lemongrass Chicken, my friends kept going for the vermicelli noodles drizzled with Nuoc Cham!! This shows how good it! 😊

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Serves 4 to 5 persons

Ingredients

900g chicken breast

2 tablespoons cornflour

3 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons lime juice

4 tablespoons Vietnamese fish sauce

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 stalks lemongrass

Some cooking oil for frying the chicken breast

Nuoc Cham

½ cup fish sauce

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 to 4 tablespoons white sugar

¾ cup water

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 or 2 red birds eye chillies, finely chopped

3 to 4 tablespoons lime juice

Noodle Bowl

1 packet vermicelli noodle

1 carrot, julienned

1 cucumbers julienned (skin and seeds removed)

4 lettuce leaves, finely sliced

Handful of mint leaves

Handful of cilantro/coriander

Handful of basil

½ tbsp oil

Sliced chili (for garnish – optional)

Method:

Preparation for the Chicken:

1. Cut the lemongrass into small pieces.
   
2. Put them in a blender with the garlic, then blend into a paste.
   
3. Combine the lemongrass and garlic paste with the lime juice, fish sauce and brown sugar and set aside.
4. Rinse the chicken breast and pat dry.
5. Rub the two tablespoons of cornflour on the chicken breast.
6. Marinate the chicken then let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preparation for the Nuoc Cham:

7. Combine all the ingredients for the Nuoc Cham and mix well until the sugar is dissolved. Adjust it according to your taste (add more chillies if you like it spicier, add more lime juice if you want it tangier and add more sugar if you want it sweeter), then set aside.

Cooking the chicken:

8. Remove the marinated chicken from the fridge and bring it to room temperature before cooking.
9. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
   
10. Place chicken in the pan and cook each side for about 5 minutes or until dark golden brown and chicken is just cooked through.
    
11. Remove from pan and set aside to rest for 5 minutes. Then slice into thin pieces.

Preparation for the noodle:

12. Soak the vermicelli noodle in cold water till softened.
13. Boil a pot of water.
14. Blanch the vermicelli noodle briefly.
15. Drain and set aside.
16. When ready to serve, place a portion of the noodles into individual bowls. Top the vegetables, herbs, and chicken pieces. Then drizzle a few tablespoons of Nuoc Cham sauce.
17. Toss lightly before eating.

Notes from Mummy’s Kitchen:

1. As I was also feeding kids, I mixed all the Nuoc Cham ingredients together except the chilli. Then I set aside a small portion of the sauce to make it kid friendly.