Thai Chicken Salad
A chicken salad with a fantastic Thai chili lime dressing with a great tangy-sweet-salty-spicy balance that South East Asian food is known for. Using Chili Garlic Sauce is a great way to thicken dressing as well as adding more layers of flavor. Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side.
Ingredients
6 -7oz chicken breast
SALAD:
150 g / 5 oz mixed lettuce leaves (or other of choice)
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes , halved
1 small cucumber , sliced
1/4 red onion , finely sliced
1/2 large red chilli , deseeded and very finely sliced (Note 1)
1/2 cup roasted cashews , unsalted preferred
1/4 cup coriander / cilantro leaves
THAI CHILLI LIME DRESSING:
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander/cilantro stems (see video)
1 1/2 tsp Chilli Garlic Sauce (Note 2)
1 small garlic , minced
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice (or rice vinegar)
2 tsp fish sauce (Note 3)
1 tbsp canola oil (or vegetable, grapeseed or other neutral oil)
1 1/2 tsp coconut sugar (optional)
Instructions
CHICKEN:
Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
Boil water in a saucepan. Add chicken, put the lid on, let the water come back up to a simmer, then remove from stove. Set aside for 20 minutes (even up to 45 min is fine). (Note 4)
Remove chicken from water and shred, then cool.
DRESSING:
Place ingredients in a jar. Shake well. Taste and adjust as required. It should be a balance of tangy / sweet / salty / hint of spice. (Note 5)
SALAD:
Place Salad ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle over most of the Dressing, toss. Serve immediately, drizzled with remaining Dressing.
Recipe Notes:
1. Large Chilli: The larger the chilli, the less spicy it is. I use Cayenne peppers which are common here in Australia, they are about 12 cm / 5" long. They are not that spicy once sliced thinly and dispersed throughout the salad. It's more for colour and a bit of heat, so you can leave it out if you're concerned. Watch the video to see how I deseed it with a spoon and finely slice it.
2. Chilli Garlic Sauce is a terrific sauce sold in jars that is now widely available in supermarkets here in Australia (Woolies, Coles etc). It's made with chilli, garlic, vinegar and some seasonings so you get lots of extra flavour layers by using it in a dressing, plus it thickens the sauce like mustard does in Western dressings. Can be substituted with: sriracha, any hot sauce, crushed chilli in a jar, sambal oelak or other chilli pastes. Because the spiciness differs, start with a conservative amount and adjust to taste.
3. Fish Sauce: This can be substituted with soy sauce if you really insist - or need to. It's not quite the same because fish sauce has more complex flavours than soy sauce.
4. Chicken Poaching: This is a foolproof way to poach chicken, guaranteed to come out juicy every time and it is scientifically impossible to overcook the breast. The chicken can stay in the water for 45 minutes and it will still be the same as it was at 20 minutes. If your breast is larger than 220g/7oz, boil for 2 minutes before taking it off the stove, then leave for 20 minutes. Read more about this method in this recipe: Foolproof Poached Chicken Breast.
5. DRESSING: You should not be able to taste any of the ingredients individually. Too sour, add more sugar and oil. Too sweet, add more lime and/or fish sauce. Too fish-saucy, add more lime, oil and sugar.
6. SPICINESS: This salad looks spicier than it is because of that gorgeous fiery red colour of the dressing! But actually, it's fairly mild. The dressing has a warm tingle rather than the bite of spiciness, and the chilli in the salad is sliced very finely and it's not a spicy chilli (see Note 1). Feel free to adjust the spiciness to your taste - just add the chilli gradually into the dressing.7. Nutrition per serving, assuming 2 servings. 148 calories is attributable to the cashews, so there's an opportunity to cut down on calories here (but note the cashews make this salad extra special!!).
