"Basic Vietnamese Marinade for Chicken or Pork"

Inspired by Wandering Chopsticks' own recipe

My ingredients: (pretty much the same except for ginger and five spice)

Fish sauce

Soy sauce

White wine vinegar

Sugar

Salt and pepper

five spice

chopped ginger (about 1-2tsp)

My method:

Unlike W.C, I didn’t really wash the chicken pieces. Instead I rinsed them quickly with a bit of cooking wine before cooking.

I initially dumped into the pot 1tbsp fish sauce, 1tbsp soy sauce, 1tbsp white wine vinegar, 1tsp sugar, 1tsp chilli power, a pinch of salt and pepper, ½ inch chopped ginger and 1tsp five-spice powder.

Then I stirred all the ingredients together with the chicken and put the lid on for 10mins.

I also added 1tbsp of water to make it easier to stir. Then I put the lid back for another 10mins.

When the liquid started thickening, I test-tasted it and added another tbsp white wine vinegar, 1tsp of sugar (I like the sweet taste), ½ tbsp of soy sauce and around ¼ cup of water, mixed it all together and take the lid off.

Then I turned the heat down 1 notch and just wait until the meat is cooked and the sauce’s consistency is that of thick gravy.

I wasn’t so sure at first if the ginger would be too overpowering for this dish but it seemed to blend it splendidly with the rest of the ingredients.

The thick and well-flavoured sauce is indeed lovely to be spooned onto steamed rice. I particularly like this dish because it is so tasty and more importantly, so straight forward it is almost definitely fool-proof (which is ideal for the novice cook).

As you can see mine doesn't look as glossy as W.C's (see below) but it still tastes pretty good.

So there you go. Once again my thank-you goes to Wandering Chopsticks .

Enjoy :D