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Tuesday, 15 May 2007 |
vietnamese
chicken salad |
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The weather’s warming up and I’ve started craving this tangy, crunchy chicken salad. It’s made with a purchased roast chicken and you can simplify it even more by using a bag of pre-shredded “coleslaw with carrots” instead of the cabbage and carrots. You do need two ingredients from the Asian section at the grocery store: fish sauce (Thai Kitchen brand is easy to find) and red chili paste with garlic (sambal oelek or sriracha), but I give you a way to cheat on those, too (see below).
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serves 4 to 6
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prep and sitting time: 40 minutes
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1 purchased roast chicken
1 head green cabbage or Napa cabbage (about 1 pound), shredded
2 large carrots, grated
4 green onions, thinly sliced (use green part, too)
Leaves from 1 bunch of fresh mint, roughly chopped
Fistful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
dressing
Juice of 3 limes
1 tablespoon fish sauce, optional
1 tablespoon soy sauce
(or 2 tablespoons soy sauce if not using fish sauce)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Asian hot chili sauce (see tip)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Roasted salted peanuts, optional |
Pull meat off chicken, tearing into pieces as your work. Discard skin and bones. Put the chicken meat, cabbage and carrots ( or coleslaw mix), green onions, mint, and cilantro in a big bowl.
To make the dressing, mix the lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and hot chili sauce in a small bowl. Stir in the oil. Pour over salad; toss well and let stand about 20 minutes (or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours). Just before serving, toss again, then sprinkle each portion with peanuts for extra crunch if you like. |
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To make this a complete meal: Buy some take-out Vietnamese summer rolls or packaged sushi to serve alongside. Or serve with cooked white rice or rice noodles.
Cheater Tip: If you don’t want to deal with the Asian chili sauce, you can make a reasonable facsimile of the taste by mixing a pressed garlic clove and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes into the dressing instead.
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