Me and my lovely chickens

Yesterday, I decided to cook chicken. But not the usual kind-it was the chewy Vietnamese chicken. This type of chewy chicken will be a bit strange and a bit difficult for Westerners to eat. I've seen a lot of foreigners who can't eat Vietnamese boiled chicken haha. Since I'm heading off to university soon, I thought I should start learning how to cook for myself.

I didn't know what to cook, so I turned to the internet for help. I even prayed to God. I just wanted to make something tasty and show my family some love.

After a bit of searching, I found a recipe for caramelized chicken. It's a Vietnamese dish, and surprisingly, I'd never tried it before. The recipe seemed simple enough, so I figured, why not give it a go? But when I started, things got a bit difficult.

My mom had prepped half a chicken for me, but when it came to chopping it, I was a mess. Picture me, fumbling with a knife, with chicken pieces and bone fragments flying everywhere. It wasn't pretty, but at least it was still edible.

Next, I marinated the chicken with ginger, garlic, onions, fish sauce, and pepper. The recipe said to just dump everything in and mix, which sounded easy enough. Then came the caramel part. I melted the sugar, added the chicken, and gave it a good stir. Despite my efforts, it didn’t look quite like the picture online, but it smelled pretty good.

In the end, nothing more, I just sat down to eat with the whole family. Despite the mess, it actually tasted decent. Maybe I'm just not picky, but I enjoyed it.

Okay, that was yesterday's task. Moving on to today. Today, I cooked a different chicken dish: chicken braised in fish sauce. However, it wasn't the chewy kind of chicken we're used to in Vietnam. It's more like the chicken you find in Western countries. In Vietnam, we call it industrial chicken. Vietnamese people like it but don't eat it often because it's considered unhealthy. But I find it very tasty-tender, fatty, and quite affordable. Today, my mom prepared an industrial chicken drumstick for me. Hearing 'drumstick,' you might think it's not enough, but it's quite large, and there are only my mom, my nephew, and me at home. One drumstick like this costs a little over a dollar, which is pretty cheap. I went back to checking recipes online. I really enjoy cooking like this because I learn new things and relax at the same time.

Watching the video, it seemed quite easy, but things started to take a bit of time when I began chopping the chicken. It wasn't too difficult—I simply cut it into small pieces and removed the bones. Then, I marinated it with spices. I finely chopped garlic and onions-no ginger-and prepared some pepper. After that, I mixed everything with the chicken.

The next step was making the fish sauce for braising. First, I sautéed the garlic until it was fragrant, then added fish sauce, water, sugar, and cornstarch, and simmered until it thickened and got a nice color. Then, I added the chicken to the sauce and braised it. It was quite simple. I stirred the chicken with the sauce, and it was done. Finally, I set the table and had dinner with my family. My mom and I found it very delicious, and it went perfectly with rice. I feel quite happy because I can cook for my family.

This is the end! Thank you all for reading my story. I hope it brought you some relaxation and comfort. See you next time!