Lemongrass Chicken and Noodles

Ingredients:

For the Marinade:

1-1/2 pounds chicken thighs, skinned and boned
2 stalks of lemongrass, remove tops, outer tough leaves and any root base of stalk, sliced thin
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1/4 tsp. white pepper
3 scallions, julienned
1 garlic clove, minced
2-3 Asian chiles, sliced thin
1 tsp, sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cooking oil

For the Noodles:

8 oz. package of vermicelli style rice noodles
1 cup English cucumber, peeled and grated coarse
1 cup Romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup bean sprouts
3 large jalapeno chiles, stemmed and sliced thin

For Garnish:

1/4 cup mint leaf, chopped

Instructions:

Place the chicken in a bowl with the marinade ingredients and mix well. Marinate for 1 hour, turning the chicken a couple of times.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a wok or large skillet. Remove the chicken from the marinade and place the pieces into the hot oil and brown on both sides, about 2 minutes each.

Add the marinade ingredients and stir-fry 10 minutes or until the chicken is done and the sauce has reduced by half. Add a little water or reduce the heat if the sauce starts to get too thick. Remove from the heat and cover while you prepare the noodles.

Once the noodles are done and still hot, place a layer into a wide serving bowl, covering the bottom half. Layer the cucumber, lettuce and bean sprouts and cover with more noodles. This will wilt the veggies.

Remove the chicken to a cutting board, cut into bite sized pieces and lay over the top of the noodles.

Sprinkle mint over the top.

Serve with Nuoc Cham** (see recipe below) drizzled over the top, and jalapenos on the side to add extra flavor.

Nuoc Cham**–Vietnamese Sauce

1/8 cup of carrot, peeled and grated fine.
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp. Asian chile flakes
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. lime zest
2 Tbsp. lime juice
4 Tbsp. water

Combine and whisk all the ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved. Will keep for a few days refrigerated.

Recipe by Larry Noggle.