Satu gai is a Thai Vietnamese hen stew with tomatoes and greens. Served with a spicy prik nam pla sauce, cilantro, and rice, it’s a distinctive, but acquainted, hen stew recipe.

Discovering a style of house whereas touring overseas

Throughout my journeys across the globe, there are moments after I merely miss house. I miss sitting with my household for dinner, hanging out with my associates at cafés, going to the gymnasium, and even having a “regular” 9-5 job. Unusual, proper?

Effectively, it’s fully pure. Most individuals have been raised in a single place, talking one language (two on the most), adhering to a sure tradition, and being surrounded by their family and friends every day.

There are just a few individuals who develop up in a nomadic and worldwide life-style, interacting with completely different individuals, cultures, and cuisines every day.

Thus, when one decides to set out for a protracted journey, regardless of how thrilling, educating, and rewarding it’s, homesickness will present up at a sure level.

On my final journey to Cambodia and Thailand, I typically skilled such moments. I typically discovered myself occupied with my dad and mom and my hometown. All of them gave the impression to be so distant.

After which, at some point, as I wandered across the Thai Vietnamese neighborhood of Sakhon Nakhon, a metropolis in Northeastern Thailand, I used to be caught by a well-known scent of house.

It got here from a small store throughout the road. I may scent the hearty hen broth, the stewed tomatoes, the bay leaf aroma. It was as if I used to be again house in Israel, watching TV in the lounge, and smelling my mother’s cooking from the kitchen subsequent door.

I had no alternative however to enter. I used to be greeted by the house owners, a stunning Thai Vietnamese household. They provided me a seat and a plate of their signature dish – Rooster Stew (or Satu Gai in Thai).

Thai Vietnamese hen stew

Judging from the composition and preparation, the dish was most likely impressed by the French colonists who dominated Vietnam till solely a long time in the past.

Throughout French rule, the Vietnamese adopted many French substances, dishes, and cooking strategies, adjusting them to the native palate and making them their very own.

A Franco-Vietnamese delicacies of a form.

The Thai Vietnamese neighborhood in Sakhon Nakhon is principally comprised of South Vietnamese refugees, who got here there escaping the tough wars of the twentieth century. In search of asylum in Thailand, they introduced their valuable household recipes with them.

Because the years handed, they preserved them, as if their sense of house trusted them, ingrained of their aromas.

Whereas I’m not French, using tomatoes, potatoes, bay leaves, and inexperienced peas is frequent in lots of Mediterranean cuisines, therefore I immediately related these flavors with my mom’s cooking.

A Southeast Asian twist to a French dish

Nonetheless, there have been additionally some sudden twists to the dish, as if reminding me the place I truly was: Southeast Asia.

The style was distinctively “French”, but the feel was silkier than some other French stew that I had tried as if it have been thickened with some kind of flour. This thickening approach is quite common in Southern Chinese language and Vietnamese cuisines.

As well as, whereas at house, I’d eat such a stew with fluffy challah bread (a standard Jewish delicacy).

Satu Gai was served alongside a plate of jasmine white rice and accompanied by sliced cucumber and Nam Prik Pla – a well-liked Thai fish sauce condiment.

Frankly, it was an exceptional expertise. It felt as if I used to be in Israel, France, Thailand, and Vietnam – all on the identical time!

Components

The substances for this dish could be present in most Western grocery shops (even Thai fish sauce, because of globalization).

You’ll need bone-in hen items and traditional stew greens like onion, tomatoes, potatoes, and peas.

What makes this hen stew distinctive is the garnish and serving sauce. The stew is historically served with chopped cilantro and Prik Nam Pla, a spicy fish sauce and lime condiment.

You may serve this stew with rice, or bread, nonetheless you like.

Find out how to make this Thai Vietnamese hen stew

The preparation steps for this stew are few and easy, guaranteeing a rewarding end result with minimal effort.

First, you marinate the hen with salt, pepper, and onions. Then this hen will get fried till the pores and skin is crispy.

Within the soup pot, you saute some aromatics and add the tomatoes, potatoes, and hen.

As soon as these things are cooked via, add some inexperienced peas and regulate the salt and pepper to style.

The Prik Nam Pla sauce is simply as simple to make. Merely combine the substances collectively and it is able to go!

Ideas for one of the best hen stew

For a maximal hen taste in your broth, I like to recommend utilizing free-range hen meat.

You could substitute the canned tomatoes with freshly chopped tomatoes in the event you’d like, but please remember the fact that the top end result might style completely different, as this stew is initially made with the canned ones.

The rationale for that is that previously, the French imported canned tomatoes to the area, as a cost-effective substitute for recent tomatoes. Because the years handed, canned tomatoes have develop into an vital ingredient in Franco-Vietnamese delicacies.

Find out how to retailer and reheat this hen stew

You may retailer this hen stew in a sealed container within the fridge for 2-3 days. Merely reheat in a pot on the range or within the microwave.

We advocate making recent rice for serving leftovers.

Satu Gai is an ideal dish for everybody who seeks consolation, a way of house, and an journey.

Now, one factor is left to be determined – on which workforce are you: rice or bread?

Oz is initially from central Israel, and is presently based mostly in Amsterdam. Alongside being a jazz musician, he’s a devoted foodie and an expert chef. He has traveled the world since 2021, exploring a few of his favorite cuisines similar to Thai, Greek, Moroccan and rather more! His favorite technique to journey goes to meals markets and venues, interacting with the native individuals and listening to their tales via meals. He’s impressed by the unbreakable bond between a tradition and culinary traditions. By travelling and consuming, he enjoys witnessing how meals can affect and be influenced by historical past and cultural trade.