Welcome to my website. I am the author of ‘Vietnamese – Simple Vietnamese Food To Cook At Home’. I am a photographer and film maker. You can book into my supper club, Vietnamese cooking classes, buy my book, check out my photography and lots more here.
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Best Food Photographer in London
The supper club is held in my home in London Fields, Hackney. It is like a dinner party in the tradition of a Vietnamese feast with homemade Vietnamese food.
Vietnamese food is about the balance of flavours, of sweet, salty and sour – there is no measuring device that can ever match your own taste buds.
Thanks to Katto Knives, for gifting me a lovely chef’s knife – its great for these chopping and slicing jobs
Recipe from my book Vietnamese
Serves 3–4
40 g (11⁄2 oz) ginger root, roughly chopped 2 lemongrass stalks, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 round shallots, roughly diced
500–600 g (1 lb 2 oz–1 lb 6 oz) chicken thighs,
de-boned and excess fat removed, skin on,
cut into large bite-sized pieces
3 tsp Vietnamese or mild curry powder
400 ml (13 fl oz/generous 11⁄2 cups) coconut milk 100 ml (21⁄2 fl oz/scant 1⁄2 cup) water
1 chicken stock cube
400 g (14 oz) potatoes, cut into 2 cm (3⁄4 in) cubes 600 g (1 lb 5 oz) Delicata squash, cut into
4 cm (11⁄2 in) chunks
50 g (2 oz) mangetout (snow peas), sliced,
or green garden peas (optional)
11⁄2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp caster (superfine) sugar or maple syrup freshly ground black pepper
For the garnish
15 g (1⁄2 oz) Thai basil or coriander (cilantro) leaves 2 spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced
2 fresh red chillies (optional)
1⁄2 lime
Using a hand blender or mortar and pestle, blend the ginger, lemongrass and garlic together with
a tiny splash of water until smooth.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or shallow casserole dish (Dutch oven) over a medium–high heat and cook the shallots until golden, then add the chicken to brown off for a couple minutes on each side. Add the garlic, ginger and lemongrass mixture and stir to combine.
Evenly sprinkle over the curry powder, stirring well to coat the chicken. Then add coconut milk, water and chicken stock cube, bring to a gentle boil, then add the potatoes and squash and stir to combine. Turn down the heat to low, cover and continue
to simmer for about 15–20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.
Add the mangetout or peas. Season the curry with the fish sauce, sugar and a good pinch of black pepper and cook for a further 8–10 minutes.
Garnish with Thai basil and/or coriander, spring onions and red chillies, if using. Squeeze over some fresh lime juice.
Serve with steamed rice (page 195) or I like it best with a fresh baguette (pages 114–117) and butter.
