Lemongrass Chicken with Coconut Rice

This is a flavourful and delicious recipe for lemongrass chicken. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and salty and savoury. I marinate it overnight and serve it with coconut rice and salad, or some pickled vegetables. I’ve also made just the chicken and used it on sandwiches for a nice summer picnic. Please enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
3 cloves of garlic
1- 2 inch piece of ginger
juice of 1/2 of a lime
2 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar
2 tbsp of grapeseed oil with a few shakes of toasted sesame oil
1 white onion or 2 shallots
2 stalks of lemongrass
Small handful of cilantro
1 birds eye chili

2 lbs of chicken thighs

jasmine rice
coconut milk
water

1) Put the soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, chili, ginger, lime juice, sugar, oil, onion, lemongrass and cilantro into a blender and blend until relatively smooth (sometimes I leave it a bit more coarse for some texture).

2) Pour over chicken thighs in a bowl, stir, wrap in plastic wrap and marinate overnight.

3) Preheat the oven to 350 F.

4)Heat a skillet with some grapeseed oil or vegetable oil on medium heat. Sear the chicken thighs on each side to get some caramelization, maybe 2 minutes per side. This is to get flavour in the crust, not to cook the chicken all the way through.

5) Place the chicken thighs onto a baking sheet and finish baking in the oven for 15 minutes.

6) While the chicken is baking, heat a pot with 1/2 volume coconut milk, 1/2 volume water, for jasmine rice (for example, if cooking 2 cups of rice, use 2 cups water and 2 cups of coconut milk, 2:1 ratio liquid to rice). Because coconut milk comes in 400 mL cans, I just use a can and the rest water, depending how creamy you like your rice.

7) Serve the chicken with rice and either pickled veggies or a simple salad. Garnish with cilantro and a lime wedge.

8) Bon appetit!