Lemongrass Chicken Skewers
Lemongrass is one of my favourite flavours, it’s beautifully aromatic, ‘citrusy’ and reminds me of traveling South East Asia. These tasty barbequed Lemongrass Chicken Skewers are something of a household staple as my husband loves them! Due to their simplicity they’re a great dish for kids to be involved with making too.
Ingredients
- 3 lemongrass stalks chopped
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2½ tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1½ tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons minced chilli
- 2 cloves garlic
- 600 g chicken thighs boneless skinless, cut into 3cm strips
- 12 bamboo skewers
Nuoc Cham dipping sauce
- ¼ cup lime or lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2-3 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
- 1½-2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2-3 tablespoons water
- 1 clove garlic (small) minced
- 1-2 teaspoons chilli finely chopped
To serve
- fancy lettuce leaves of 1
- Asian herbs e.g. Coriander and mint
Instructions
- Place lemongrass, oil, fish sauce, turmeric, brown sugar, chilli and garlic in the bowl of a small food processor and blend until a paste forms. Alternatively, pound all ingredients together in a mortar and pestle.
- Marinate chicken in the paste for at least 1 hour or, if you have time, overnight in the fridge. When ready to cook leave out at room temperature for 20 minutes before skewering and cooking (this ensures the meat cooks much more evenly than if you were to cook it cold straight from the fridge).
- Thread marinated chicken onto bamboo skewers. Drizzle chicken skewers with a little oil and cook on a preheated BBQ grill or in a large grill pan on the stove top for 2-3 minutes each side or until cooked through.
- Mix all sauce ingredients together.
- Serve skewers on a plate with lettuce and Asian herbs. To eat, pull meat off skewers and wrap a piece of meat up in a lettuce leaf with a few Asian herbs, dip in sauce and eat.
Notes
To get your taste-buds in the mood I’ve included a short clip from my travel through Vietnam below. If you’ve never been put this country on the bucket-list – it’s a foodie’s heaven!
In Vietnam they cook these lemongrass chicken skewers over charcoal and an open flame, which gives them a nice char-grilled flavour, but on a barbeque or grill pan at home will do the trick!