Vietnamese food is already well-known for Pho, banh mi, and street foods; however, there is another side of Vietnamese cuisine: the simple dishes that are served in every Vietnamese family meal. Vietnamese clay pot chicken is one of them. Despite the simplicity of the cooking method, this chicken dish is incredibly tasty and worth trying.
What is a Vietnamese Clay Pot?
A clay pot is part of Vietnamese traditional cooking. Like an iron cast pan or skillet in the Western world, the locals believe the more you cook with the pot, the more flavors it will help bring into your food. In the past, the pot was made entirely out of clay, which had to be baked with highly high heat before being used. However, in modern times, ceramic “clay” pots are more popular as it is easier to produce, the material is considered more hygienic, and can last a long time. Not only chicken, but Vietnamese can cook many other foods using clay pots, ranging from stews and soups to braised dishes.
What is Vietnamese Clay Pot Chicken?
The name means almost everything. The dish includes chicken, the main and the most essential ingredient, cooked in a clay pot. The clay pot helps to bring more flavor and harmonize the tastes, making the dish more fulfilled.
It is usually served with steamy hot rice daily in Vietnam, along with a dish of poached vegetables.
Vietnamese clay pot chicken is very rich in nutrients, including vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin C, vitamin E, calcium, and iron in the chicken meat and seasoning spices.
How Vietnamese Clay Pot Chicken is Made
You can cook this dish using chicken thighs, breasts, or even wings. The savory flavors that make it distinct from others are fish sauce, dark soy sauce, ginger strips, minced garlic, chopped shallot, chili pepper, and other seasonings like black pepper powder, salt, and sugar.
There are various Vietnamese clay pot chicken versions, so you can add other optional spices: oyster sauce, lemongrass, mushroom, coconut juice, soda, and honey.
After mixing all the ingredients in a large bowl and letting the chicken marinate for about an hour, you will need to prepare for an important step: making the dish deliciously colored.
Add oil and sugar to caramelize the sugar into a dark brown color in a large heated clay pot. You should be able to control the heat well, or the sugar can quickly turn black. This step is simple enough, but it makes the dish more tasteful and appealing.
You should stir-fry the chicken until the meat is not pink. This step is where you can get creative and add water, soda, or coconut juice to stew the meat until it is tender and caramelized.
Have it straight out from the hot clay pot, and a piece of the brownish and juicy chicken on the white and soft rice could be your new addiction.
Why You Should Try Vietnamese Clay Pot Chicken
1. Experience the traditional Vietnamese family meal
Traditionally, Vietnamese clay pot chicken is served with hot steamed rice, and the dish can be shared among many people because of the large size of the clay pot and because that is how Vietnamese enjoy their family meals. Therefore, as a traveler, you can have a chance to encounter the “real” Vietnam when trying rustic dishes like clay pot chicken.
2. Have a taste of an Asian dish and cooking
If you come from a non-Asian country where caramel is frequently used in ice cream, using caramel in savory dishes might sound quite strange. However, the rich caramel and ginger sauce mixture epitomizes Vietnamese cooking principles. We promise that the sticky, sweet, and salty sauce coated in the chicken will change your mind once you try Vietnam clay pot chicken.
The clay pot is also a common utensil in Vietnamese and Asian cooking. With it, the flavor, nutrition, and heat of the whole dish are preserved and enhanced, and the meat is also cooked to perfect tenderness.
3. Add to your recipes another healthy and easy-to-make dish
This dish is rated as very easy and straightforward to cook and is usually taught in cooking class. Therefore, this chicken dish is an excellent option if you want to bring a little Vietnamese flavor into your country.
Where to Try Vietnamese Clay Pot Chicken
1. Com Nieu Sai Gon
Address:
27 Tu Xuong, Ward 7, District 3
59 Ho Xuan Huong, Ward 6, District 3
75 Xuan Thuy, Thao Dien Ward, District 2
Opening hours: 10 AM – 10 PM
Price: VND 200,000 – VND 500,000
2. Cuc Gach Quan
Address: 10 Dang Tat, Tan Dinh Ward, District 1
Opening hours: 9 AM – 11 PM
Price: VND 200,000 – VND 330,000
3. Binh Quoi Ecotourism
Address: 1147 Binh Quoi, Ward 28, Binh Thanh District
Opening hours: 11 AM – 2 PM and 5 PM – 10 PM
Price: VND 150,000 – VND 275,000
Conclusions on Why You Should Try Vietnamese Clay Pot Chicken
Vietnamese clay pot chicken is not as famous as Pho or Banh Mi, but it is very popular and common in Vietnamese family meals because it is rich in nutrients, tasty and easy to cook.