Chef Hau Le · Bon Café

Vietnamese Grilled Chicken

with Lemon Grass

Serves 4

USING FAMILY recipes passed down through the generations, Bon Café strives to offer authentic, honest Vietnamese cuisine. Among the popular dishes are Vietnamese spring rolls, salad rolls, grilled pork chops and bánh mì sandwiches. Grilled chicken is a classic Vietnamese meat dish served with plain rice or over noodle soup. This recipe, made with lemon grass, garlic, shallots and hoisin sauce as the predominant flavours, can be widely used to marinate chicken, ribs or lamb chops for the barbecue.

3 stalks lemon grass, chopped

5 cloves garlic

5 shallots

1 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp dark soy sauce

2 Tbsp hoisin sauce

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

3 lbs skinless chicken thighs

2 Tbsp canola oil

IN A FOOD processor, combine lemon grass, garlic, shallots, salt, black pepper, brown sugar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce and vegetable oil and purée for 3 to 4 minutes to make a paste. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. (You can refrigerate this mixture in an airtight container for up to 3 days.) Add chicken and mix well to coat evenly with the sauce. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight if you desire.

In a large sauté pan with a lid, heat canola oil on medium-high, add chicken and brown for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, turn chicken over and brown for another 4 minutes. Add the lemon grass marinade, cover and cook for 3 minutes. Increase the heat to high and cook for 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and serve hot.

Lemon grass