Name: Chicken Cooked in Ginger (Gà Nấ Gừun)
Yield: Serves 4-6 as part of a Shared Meal
Cuisine: Vietnam
Ingredients: 200 g (7 oz) ginger, peeled; 2 tablespoons shaoxing rice wine; 20 g (¾ oz) preserved white radish; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2 × 3 cm (¾ × ¼ inch) pieces; 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) chicken stock; 1 bird’s eye chilli, sliced; 1 teaspoon oyster sauce; 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce; 2 spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced on the diagonal

Preparation info

Serves
4-6
as part of a Shared Meal

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Songs of Sapa

By Luke Nguyen

Published 2009

About

WE SIT ON COOL GREEN TILES IN MY AUNTY NINE’S LIVING ROOM; A HUGE SHRINE IS ABOVE ME, ALONG WITH A FRAMED PICTURE OF MY UNCLE. NEXT TO HIS PICTURE THERE IS AN OFFERING OF A PLATE OF CHICKEN COOKED IN GINGER, PILED HIGH AND LOOKING DELICIOUS. I FEEL LIKE A CHILD AGAIN; I LICK MY LIPS SECRETLY BUT I KNOW THE RULES – I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THE INCENSE BURNS OUT, WHICH SYMBOLISES THAT UNCLE HAS FINISHED, AND ONLY THEN AM I ALLOWED TO EAT.