Among many, one annoyance I have with myself  is that the first time I travelled to Vietnam I didn’t explore the food enough. Present Holly does extensive research on where to eat, what to eat and how. Live like a local and you’ll eat the best food is my motto. Given that the only food I seemed to be able to find was suspicious broths on the side of the road or dishes that included blood, past Holly steered clear and stuck to spring rolls and beer. To think that Vietnamese food now is among my favourite, present Holly is very very disappointed with past Holly. Now, this isn’t really Vietnamese or Thai but instead a Monday ‘I can’t be bothered doing anything except watching A Chef’s Table on Netflix’ fusion of the two.

This recipe is suuuuper simple and easy. If you’re not into chicken, pork or duck will work well. If you’re not into meat, use tofu and tempeh and just skip the marinate phase. If you’re not into tofu and tempeh, just go with carrot and capsicum chopped into matchsticks. If I don’t say so myself, this sauce is pretty damn delicious. It’d also be yum as a base for a stir fry or the dipping sauce for spring rolls. Peanut soy goodness = it’s basically a sure thing.

Satay Chicken Lettuce Cups

Serves 2

Ingredients

2tbs smooth peanut butter
4tbs soy sauce
3tbs water
1tbs rice vinegar
Juice from a lime
1 chicken breast, chopped into tiny cubes
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1tsp chopped ginger
2tbs chopped coriander roots
Handful of vermicelli noodles
Handful of fresh coriander leaves
2tbs chopped peanuts
Bunch of lettuce leaves

Method

In a cup, mix the peanut butter, soy sauce, water, rice vinegar and lime juice together until fully combined and smooth.

Put the chicken, garlic, ginger & coriander root in a bowl then pour over 3/4 of the sauce above (you want to keep some for later). Leave in the fridge to marinade for 30-60 minutes.

Heat a little oil in a wok and over a high heat, fry off the chicken mixture until golden and caramelised – around 5 minutes.

While that’s cooking, soak your vermicelli in a bowl of boiling water until soft then rinse and drain. Using scissors, roughly cut the noodles so they are around 5cm long. Add these along with the coriander, peanuts and left over satay sauce to the chicken. Stir through until hot then serve in the lettuce cups. Easy does it!