Introducing NOYA's Kitchen

We love any excuse to taste delicious food, and even more so when we have the challenge of matching up wines to challenging dishes. We also love working with local people, because that's what we're all about. So we're thrilled to have teamed up with Bath's vietnamese cookery school guru, Noya Pawlyn, who runs one of the most successful weekly pop up supper clubs in the city.

Every month, we'll be sharing one of Noya's mouthwatering, and easy-to-make recipes with you, to bring the unique flavours of Vietnam to your table!  And, with all good dishes, you need a good wine, so we've asked food and wine matching expert Angela Mount to pick the ideal wine to accompany each recipe.

Enjoy…

Ginger and Chilli Chicken with Green Peppercorn

Ga Xao Gung | serves 4 people

Chicken Marinade
500g chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar

Ingredients
50g ginger, cut into matchsticks
2 tbsp fresh green pepper corns (substitute for 1/4 tsp coarse black pepper if none available)
3 cloves of chopped garlic
1 onion, finely sliced
3 fresh whole chillies (use less if you like it less spicy)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp toasted sesame

Sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce (optional for darker colour)
½ tsp corn flour
90ml of water or coconut water

Marinate
In a large bowl, combine the chicken and ingredients for the marinade and mix well. Cover for 30 minutes, or if you have time place in the fridge over night.

Cooking
1. In a hot wok, add the oil and stir fry the ginger until it's fragrant. Move the ginger to the side of the wok and add the sliced onion and whole chillies, frying until fragrant. Move all the ingredients to the side.
2. Add the chicken to the wok, browning on both sides. Mix the ginger and onion together with the chicken. Then add the garlic, green pepper corn and mix well.
3. Mix the sauce ingredients together and add to the wok, stirring for a few minutes. Cover with a lid and simmer for 15 mins on a low heat.
4. Remove the lid and increase the heat to reduce the sauce for about 5-10 mins, or to the constancy you like. Stir in the sesame oil and transfer to a dish.
5. Garnish with the sesame seeds, coriander and serve with Jasmine rice.

Come along to Noya’s Kitchen's cooking classes to learn more about this wonderful aromatic cuisine.

Click here to book your classes >

Wine Match

I love Noya’s clever sleight of hand with her dishes; from the most delicately flavoured of Summer rolls, to strong, punchy, assertive curries like this one, all of which are also stunningly presented. In the interest of research, I felt obliged to try making this one myself last week, and was delighted at how straightforward it was. I know I fell far short of Noya’s legendary presentation, but my guests certainly didn’t complain, and it was utterly delicious – perfect for this time of year, when we’re between seasons.

So, what to serve? There’s a long-held myth that chunky red wines don’t go with spicy food, but the fact is that they do work, as long as you choose carefully.  It’s all about balance; whilst an aromatic Riesling would go well, sometimes with a rich, flavoursome, warming curry, a bold, velvety red is what’s needed...

Vina Falernia Carmenere Reserva 2014 | £13.75 

is my wine of choice for this dish – there’s a riot of different flavours in Noya’s curry – the heat of chillies and green peppercorns, the sweetness of soya, oyster sauce and brown sugar, and the sweet and sour pungency of ginger and fish sauce. All mingle seamlessly to create this sumptuous dish, but make wine matching a challenge. Chilean Carmenere is generally a good match with curry, with its bold, warm, cardamom and spicy character, and this one goes one step further. Produced at high altitude in the rocky hills of the Elqui valley, Vina Falernia are the most northern vineyards in Chile, perched on the edge of the desert. Why does this wine work, with this barrage of sweetness and heat?  Partly because the wine is made in an ‘Amarone’ style, where a proportion of the grapes are dried before they are fermented – this makes for a richer, more intense, more voluptuous red, which has the power and character to match the dish. With its welcoming scents of dark berries, bitter chocolate and warm spice, and its rich, brooding, yet incredibly soft flavours, this ticks all the boxes.

By Angela Mount