We followed a bun recipe from Andrea Nguyen’s Vietnamese Food Any Day cookbook, but we served it with green leaf lettuce, cucumber, spearmint, red cabbage, and jasmine rice instead of thin rice noodles. First, start with 1 ¼ lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Using paper towel, pat until bone-dry, trim off fat, and then cut into vertical strips (1″ wide and ¼” thick – see Note below). Second, prepare the marinade. Blend the following in a handheld blender: 3-4 cloves garlic, 1 medium shallot (½ cup), ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, ½ tsp five-spice powder, 1 ½ Tbsp white sugar, ½ tsp bittersweet caramel sauce (dark amber honey or molasses), 1 ½ Tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp soy sauce, and 1 ½ Tbsp neutral vegetable oil. Third, prepare a rimmed baking sheet by lining it with foil, place a rack in the sheet, and then lightly spray the rack with oil. Fourth, add the chicken strips to the marinade, and massage to coat well. Thread the meat onto the skewers, and give each loaded skewer a gentle squeeze. (We used five long metal skewers, which we loaded about 2/3 to ¾ each.) Fifth, turn the broiler on high, and then place the skewer tray on the top level of the rack (about 4″ from the flame). Broil for 18 mins on one side, then flip the skewers are broil for an additional 10 mins (28 mins total). (Feb. 2020)
Note: Where a segment of chicken thigh was thick (two layers of muscle), we cut it in half to separate the layers into individual, thinner pieces. This resulted in some small pieces, rather than strips.
Source: Andrea Nguyen’s Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors (Ten Speed Press, 2019).
Cooking Adventures 