Peanut Chicken Satay Recipe

Peanut sauce is always well appreciated. It's tasty, very easy to make and can be served with many different ingredients. Chicken Satay is a classic, and for this recipe I marinated the chicken and prepared the components of the dish in advance for a truly easy meal. The peanut sauce was made from scratch with peanuts that I blended until smooth and creamy, coconut milk, galangal, limes and fresh lemongrass.

For more texture, I added fried jiacama and fried tofu to the chicken breasts. I served the chicken satay with steamed jasmine rice, sliced cucumbers and chopped tomatoes.

Hot and Sour Thai Soup Recipe

Tom Yum Thai soup has a unique taste. It's both spicy and sour and loaded with amazing flavors such as lemongrass, galangal, fresh kaffir limes leaves and coconut milk. For this version, I combined fresh water chestnuts, sugar snap peas, tamarind, red chili powder, baby squid and mackerel. You could also add shrimp or chicken. And of course, the soup is easy to make vegetarian as well.

Coconut Chicken Curry Recipe (Vietnamese Chicken Curry)

Coconut chicken curry is a dish made in both Vietnamese and Indian cuisines, with minor variations. This dish represents the Vietnamese version. The chicken is cooked in coconut milk, spices and a blend of nuts to create a creamy, rich mouth feel. I added galangal, lemongrass, turmeric powder, and kaffir lime leaves. Some people use other spices and add pineapple and various vegetables, but I wanted to keep it simple so the only other addition was potatoes.

If you're tempted by this dish but are bothered by the calories you could substitute evaporated milk for the coconut milk. It won't be as creamy, but the flavor will still be there.

Sweet Tamarind Drink (Nuoc Da Me)

Nước đá me, literally "tamarind ice cubes" in Vietnamese, is a fairly common drink in Vietnam. It's served in various ways, such as with salted key lime rind preserves, but today I made it with fresh pineapple purée. It's sweet and tart at the same time but most important, it's so refreshing!

Tamarind is quite popular in Asian and South Asian cooking. I usually eat the fresh pods as they are, and use tamarind concentrate or tamarind powder for cooking.

Ginger Lemongrass Drink

Xả gừng literally translates to lemongrass and ginger. I love lemongrass, and the flavor it imparts to the drink is very pleasant and refreshing on a hot day.

Lemongrass (xả) is very common in Vietnamese cuisine. It is considered a mild diuretic, tonic and stimulant. Lemongrass is typically sold in packs of 5 stalks, and can be quite expensive. Last year, I asked Lulu whether we could grow it at home, and in response he planted 4 "bushes".  They are doing quite well, and since it is a perennial, we keep getting fresh stalks. If you're planning on cooking a lot of Asian cuisine, consider investing in some lemongrass.