Nothing beats the very Vietnamese combination of white pepper and lemon, so it’s always worth having both in the kitchen. This delicious recipe comes from Bill’s Everyday Asian, a bold taste explos

ion of Asia. Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients, most of them are readily available in a well-stocked kitchen. It’s the combination of herbs and spices that adds the fresh flavour to this quick and easy dish.


3 cloves of garlic
1t turmeric
2 large green chillies, diced
2 lemongrass stalks, white part only, very finely sliced, or grated zest of 2 lemons
1t sea salt
800g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into chunks
3T light-flavoured oil
2 celery sticks, cut into batons
1 bunch of asparagus (about 200g), trimmed and halved
2T fish sauce
1T soy sauce
2T lemon juice
2t granulated sugar
3 spring onions, cut into batons

  1. Pound the garlic, turmeric, chilli, lemongrass and salt to a paste in a pestle and mortar.
  2. Combine with the chicken in a bowl and mix well. Cover and put in the fridge for 10 minutes.
  3. Heat a wok or large frying-pan over a high heat. Add half the oil and half the chicken and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Remove and repeat with the remaining oil and chicken.
  4. Return the chicken to the wok, add the celery and asparagus and stir-fry for two minutes.
  5. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, lemon juice, sugar, spring onion and some white pepper and heat for a further minute.
  6. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

Serves 4

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