Vietnamese Lemon Curry Chicken and Vegetables

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I was trying to come up with a way to start this post and “Best of Me” by The Starting Line just came on Pandora. Thumbs up! The song makes sense seeing as how I’m listening to my Dashboard Confessional station and totally jamming out because Mike isn’t home and I’m used to the dog judging me. And now Jack’s Mannequin is on. This is going to be a good night.

Back in highest school, the most “adventurous” food I ever ate was my friend Elliot’s mom’s adobo and lumpia. God, it was so good. Also, I say that eating vienna sausages from the can is pretty adventurous too, but we’ll leave that alone for now.

Anyway, I certainly never had curry back then, and it would be a long time before I did. Which makes me all disgruntled, like why couldn’t I have been eating curry since the beginning of time? All those nights of driving around with friends and eating dinner together and never once did we go to a Thai or Vietnamese joint. BIGGEST REGRET EVER.

So now, I feel like I’m trying to make up for everything because I have this cuisine as often as I possibly can. There’s a Vietnamese restaurant in downtown Tampa called Bamboozle ^[4], which has the best lunch specials, and also some of the best pho bowls, banh mi sandwiches, spring rolls, and curry that I’ve ever had. And nowadays, I’m way more of a knowledgable little foodie patootie about such matters than I once was so I can make that statement and you should know that I have a lot of experience to back it up. 

Today’s Lemon Curry Chicken recipe is inspired by three things:

1. Bamboozle Cafe, because their yellow curry is on point. I don’t even bother getting chicken because the carrots and potatoes in the curry are all I need.
2. Savory Spice Shop ^[5], because I get my Vietnamese Sweet Lemon Curry spice from them. This store is quite a hike from my house, but it’s so worth it to make sure my husband and I have the best spices we possibly can. One of my favorite things about Savory Spice Shop is that they have these little recipe cards around the store that anyone is welcome to grab. This recipe is adapted from one of those cards. The card comes courtesy of Andy Klein, the chef/owner of One Ten Thai in Puerto Rico. Cool, right??
3. Sam’s Club, because August is Health Awareness Month and this dish isn’t bad for you, wahoo!

Sam’s Club carries a ton of healthy products so I’ll stop by for my bulk shopping, like the coconut milk I used in this recipe. I noticed a number of other coconut products ^[6] too, like coconut flour, and coconut sugar! Sam’s Club has a magazine called Healthy Living Made Simple ^[7], a publication that just shows they are committed to getting their members to stay happy and well, and is full of tips, tricks, and information for the healthy life you want to live.

Sam’s Club will also be holding in store free health screenings ^[8] on September 12. Stop by!

Now, this is the perfect kind of recipe because you know why? WANNA KNOW WHY?! Because I just prepare the chicken and marinade and it sits in the fridge for hours. During that time I was able to watch some TV, read my book, and ALSO something I’m pretty excited about, got to cleaning some much needed areas of the house. #adultlife

I’m doing this new thing now where I’m all like “I dun care whatsoever what happens around this house, how messy it gets, because we’ll be out of here in no time!!!!!!!! 🙆”

But then I get these bouts of “What the hell am I thinking! This place is a wreck!” That was this weekend. So it was nice to not be in the kitchen all day long cooking a meal.

Once the chicken has hung out with the curry paste a little bit, I throw it in the oven for a little over an hour while I do more productive things and then get started on the vegetables that go alongside the chicken. (And then, unrelated to this dish, I started making a pot of Cuban black beans ^[9] because I could eat these for lunch for dayyysssss.)

I was so so so so happy with the outcome of the dish. I have made it before with just vegetables, but I like this one a lot better with chicken. Coming out of the oven, the chicken is so tender and perfect. Plus, it has this lovely crust that’s full of flavor from the curry paste. I cannot even take it. The best part is that it’s healthy. It’s good for you AND tastes wonderful. Can’t get any better than that!

Enjoy!

How do you cook with coconut? What healthy living ideas can you share?

Print Recipe ^[10]

Vietnamese Lemon Curry Chicken and Vegetables

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

This Vietnamese lemon curry chicken dish is rockstar. So flavorful and will remind you of your favorite local Vietnamese restaurant.

Ingredients:

Curry Roast Chicken

• 4 skinless, bone-in chicken thighs (I had about 1.75 pounds worth)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 tablespoons Vietnamese Sweet Lemon Curry spice
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon tamari*

Sauce and Vegetables

• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 2 baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup broccoli, cut into small florets
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 4 bok choy leaves, chopped
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 3/4 cup coconut milk (I used the So Delicious brand)
• 2 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon Vietnamese Sweet Lemon Curry spice

Directions:

1. In a small boil, stir together the canola oil, curry spice, cumin, fish sauce, and soy sauce. It'll form a paste. Lightly salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Brush curry paste over all sides of the chicken thighs. Place chicken in large food storage bag and place bag in the fridge for 4-12 hours.
2. After marinating the chicken, preheat oven to 325*F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and separate onion slices into 4 separate piles. Lay one chicken thigh on top of each pile of onion slices. Roast in oven for 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
3. When there's about 20 minutes left for the chicken to cook, heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a medium skillet and saute the potatoes until tender, turning to brown all sides.
4. When chicken and potatoes are complete, heat another tablespoon of oil in a separate skillet. Add broccoli, carrots, and bok choy. Cook until they start to soften. Add potatoes to pan.
5. To the skillet, add the roasting juices from the pan, onions from the pan, chicken stock, coconut milk, fish sauce, and curry spice. Stir to combine.
6. Continue to cook until sauce is reduced by half. Pour sauce over chicken pieces when ready to serve.

Tamari is a gluten-free soy sauce. Feel free to use the soy sauce variety you prefer.

Adapted from Andy Klein's (chef/owner of One Ten Thai in Puerto Rico) recipe card at Savory Spice Shop in St. Petersburg.