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Nuoc Cham Chicken Rice Bowl

If you keep a jar of nuoc cham in the fridge, dinner is twenty minutes away permanently. Sear some chicken, pile it on rice with whatever herbs and raw vegetables you have, and pour the sauce over the lot.

The sauce is doing all the work, so the rest can be as rough as you like. Chopped, torn, unevenly sliced — none of it matters once it is dressed.

Servings
2
Prep Time
10
mins
Cook Time
10
mins
Ingredients
10
Total Time
20
mins

Pantry bits

Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)
Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)
Jasmine Rice
Jasmine Rice
Crispy fried shallots
Crispy fried shallots

Ingredients

  • 400g chicken thigh fillets, thinly sliced
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 2 cups steamed jasmine rice, hot
  • 4 tbsp nuoc cham
  • 1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced
  • 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
  • 1 handful mint leaves
  • 1 handful coriander leaves
  • 2 tbsp crispy fried shallots
  • 1 tbsp roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

Instructions

  1. Pat the chicken dry and season lightly with salt.
  2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat. Sear the chicken in a single layer for 3 minutes without moving it, until well browned.
  3. Toss and cook for another 3–4 minutes until cooked through and caramelised at the edges.
  4. Divide the hot rice between two bowls and spoon the chicken over the top.
  5. Add the cucumber and carrot alongside, then scatter over the mint and coriander.
  6. Pour 2 tbsp of nuoc cham over each bowl, then finish with the fried shallots and peanuts.

‍

Notes:

‍

  • Pour the sauce over everything, not just the chicken — it should collect at the bottom of the bowl
  • Dry chicken sears; wet chicken steams. Pat it properly
  • Nuoc cham keeps for a week in the fridge, so make a big jar

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