Hello & Nyob Zoo!
My mom’s herbs are growing like crazy this year so I’d thought to share with you her poached chicken with summer herb recipe! In Hmong (Green dialect) we call this dish Nqaj Qab Vum: Nqaj meaning “meat”, Qab meaning “chicken”, and Vum meaning “to poach”. This dish is commonly eaten during New Years, Weddings, Spiritual callings, and on a road trip. But also commonly eaten at home too! It’s a great dish to make for the summer because you can enjoy it outside or on the road. It’s a great dish to pack for a picnic. I hope you can give this one a try. Happy Summer & Happy Cooking!
Main Ingredients
Brown Hens or Brown Roosters
What to choose: The most sustainable & environmental friendly way to source whole brown hens is to raise your own. Like my dad, who still raises chickens. He will butcher his hens, cook it, and pack it for our relatives. Home grown-farm raised chickens are best to use because the meat is much leaner but super rich in flavor since they’ve been well taken care of. If you can source any local farm raised brown hens, I highly recommend it. If you can’t, by all means, you can buy frozen brown range chicken from your local asian grocery store. It will be located in the freezer section or in the fridge at the meat section.
[Below] This chicken was raised by my dad. It is a young rooster. You can tell from the skin, it doesn’t have layers of fat. It’s mostly meat. Full of flavor. The only downside is that the meat is a little more tough to eat. So it needs a longer cooking time to tenderize it.
[Below] These are brown range chickens bought from our local Asian market. There’s a wide variety of different chickens. Some places will have just brown range chicken, others will have brown roosters and Kui Fei chicken. Any of those will work fine. You can tell the skin is a little more loose and not as meaty but the flavor is still great. This chicken is also a lot more tender compared to the ones my dad raise.
In the Hmong culture, cooking the chicken from head to the feet is a way to pay your respects. Since we will be cutting the chicken, we will remove the head on one. But for courtesy, we will be cooking one with it all attached. If you don’t like to see or eat it, by all means remove it.
Cooking method
Poaching: Simply boil in water with salt and some seasoning. Add in lemongrass or ginger to help with the gaminess of the chicken and to flavor the broth.
Left: Chicken is not cut…..Right: Chicken is cut in the center of the breast
Make sure to make slits between the joints of the drumstick and thigh as well as the wing drumettes to help cook it throughly. If you don’t most of the blood will cook within the meat and not be able to release itself.
Save the broth to make soup or cook rice with. It’s full of flavor. 🙂 
We like to use the broth to make a simple soup with tofu chunks and Hmong medicinal herbs 
Cool the chicken and cut into bite size pieces
Make the herb pepper paste
My mom likes to add cilantro, green onions, and dill. Dill is optional if you think it’s too strong. Cilantro and green onions are usually the two herbs that are commonly used in this dish.
Mix into the chicken and enjoy!
You can simply just season the poached chicken with salt and black pepper. This is the most classic way to season it. Enjoy it with a side of Hmong pepper dip.
You can also add a little fresh chopped cilantro and green onions to it as well. Very simple but delicious.
Serve with sticky rice, soup, and pepper dip. SO GOOD!
Enjoy!
-Cindy Her (C.HerCreations)
Ingredients
- ---FOR THE CHICKEN---
- 1 whole clean brown hen or rooster (about 4.5lbs)
- 4 quarts (a gallon) of water (or enough water to cover the chicken)
- 2 Tbsp salt
- 1 Tbsp chicken bouillon (I used Totole brand)
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- ---FOR THE HERB PEPPER PASTE--- (to season the chicken after it's cooked)
- 4-6 chili peppers (more or less depends on your spice level)
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 cup chopped green onions
- 1/2 cup chopped dill (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt (add more later after if needed)
- 1 tsp mushroom seasoning
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- ---OTHER INGREDIENTS TO SEASON WITH---
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Fresh cilantro and green onions
- Fresh chili peppers (optional)
Instructions
1) In a pot, add in the water and salt. While you're waiting for the water to boil, clean the chicken well and poke a few holes in between the thigh area of the chicken as well as the joint of wing to the chicken breast area. This will insure the chicken is cooked all the way though. Once the water comes to a boil, add in the salt, chicken bouillon, and chicken. There should be enough water to cover most of the chicken. Add more if needed). Cover with a lid and let it cook for a good 15 minutes or so. After 15 minutes, flip it over and add in the lemongrass. Cook for another 15 more minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Once cooked, take it out and place it into a bowl. Let it cool for 10 minutes or so before cutting.
2) Cut the chicken into desire size pieces and season with salt and pepper to your liking (this is the simple version)
3) KEEP THE BROTH TO MAKE SOUP: Save the chicken broth and add in some cubed tofu and medicinal herbs if desire. You can add celery stalks also if you want to. Feel free to add some mushroom seasoning for more umami flavor. Don't waste the delicious broth! You can use it to cook your rice as well.
FOR MY MOM'S CHICKEN HERB VERSION
1) In a pan, add in 2 tsp of oil. On medium high heat, pan roast the chili peppers and garlic cloves. Be careful of oil splatter. Let it blister and get a good coloring on all sides. Remove from the oil and place the roasted chili, garlic, salt and mushroom seasoning into a mortar and pestle. Pound until everything is smashed well. Then add in the chopped herbs. Pound until the herbs are well wilted. Then add in the fish sauce and mix with a spoon. Taste and adjust seasonings.
NOTE: (If you don't want to pan roast the chili and garlic in oil you can dry roast it in the oven until it is well roasted. To roast in the oven: Heat the oven to broil 500' and cook for a good 5-10 minutes on each side until they are cooked and charred.)
2) Add in all or about half of the herb paste to the cut chicken. Mix well. Taste and adjust. You can add all the herb paste or use the other half as a dipping paste. It is up to you.
Enjoy with sticky rice and a side of tofu soup made with the chicken broth.
Notes
Dill is optional if you don't like dill 🙂
