Lemongrass Chicken at Chopstix in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget
Once you learn how to make Vietnamese lemongrass chicken, the hardest part is finding and storing ingredients like fish sauce and long lemongrass in the refrigerator in addition to pulling out a wok from the pantry.
Chopstix Restaurant has lemongrass chicken down to perfection, so I leave the cooking to them I must admit.
Chopstix has a new location in Northridge Mall in Salinas. (The original location in Seaside is still open.) It is easy to park at the Mall for diners and delivery drivers alike.
Basically for lemongrass chicken, you marinate the chicken pieces overnight with several chopped ingredients including:
-lime juice
-fish sauce
-brown sugar
-soy sauce (I like dark soy sauce)
-garlic
-shallot
-chopped, citrusy lemongrass from the very center of the stalks
Once the chicken pieces are marinated, you stir-fry them in a neutral oil like peanut oil. At Chopstix, they top the lemongrass chicken with freshly cut green onion and add sides of rice and salad with a tomato slice and cucumber slice.
After I ate the lemongrass chicken and rice, I mixed the salad into the lemongrass chicken oil and soy sauce seasoning as a dressing.
This lunch was filling and refreshing with ample portions for chicken, rice, and salad alike.
I thoroughly enjoyed the lemongrass chicken meal prepared by Chopstix at the Northridge Mall in Salinas, California and think it is good introduction to Vietnamese food for people who like Chinese food.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
