Jerry (JdeQ) of Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants! chose this recipe, and here are his notes:
Those of you who made the soups will be able to use up some of those 'asian sauces' with this recipe. Wink
We first had this a few months ago at one of the cooking classes that we attend. I've modified the recipe a bit - i.e. added the chopped, roasted nuts as the garnish etc.
It is really two separate components - the chicken and the vegetable base. Each has its own dressing.
We loved this salad - it was fresh tasting and had a wonderful mix of flavours and textures which is so characteristic of Thai cooking. I doubt that it is 'authentic' Thai . . . but it is tasty!
It looks like a lot of ingredients but it comes together quite nicely. When I make it I cook the chicken the night before - so it can cool before I shred it, and make the dressing for the vegetables as well. Then the next day the salad itself comes together nicely.
Thai Chicken Salad
Makes 4 servings.
For the chicken:
4 roasted chicken breasts
½ tsp chopped galangal (can substitute with ginger)
Juice of two limes
1 ½ tsp minced bird’s eye chilies (or 1 tsp chili paste such as sambel oelek)
2 shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 kaffir lime laves – centre rib removed, cut in a chiffonade
¾ tsp fish sauce
Shred the chicken breast.
Mix all of the dressing ingredients.
Toss the shredded chicken with the dressing. Adjust the seasonings – there should be a balance of hot, sour, and salt. To adjust seasonings in Thai food follow these rough guidelines . . . if it is too sweet add more fish sauce . . . too salty add more sugar . . . not tangy enough - add more lime juice . . . not hot enough - add more chili or some sambel oelek
For the salad base:
2 T fish sauce
2 T palm sugar – (can substitute with regular or brown sugar)
¼ cup lime juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 bird’s eye chilies, minced
1 bunch watercress, trimmed
8 Napa cabbage leaves cut in a chiffonade
16 cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 cup blanched green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
½ bunch cilantro, leaves trimmed and coarsely chopped
½ bunch mint, leaves trimmed and cut in a chiffonade
½ cup roasted peanuts (non-salted) or cashews, chopped
Mix the fish sauce through to chilies in a jar. Stir/shake well to dissolve sugar. Taste for seasonings). Store it in the refrigerator overnight so the flavours come together.
Mix together the watercress through mint in a large bowl.
Toss with dressing.
To serve:
Divide the vegetable mixture amongst 4 plates.
Add the chicken on top of the vegetable mixture.
Sprinkle with chopped, roasted nuts. You can also add some cilantro to garnish.
My Notes:
I used ginger instead of galangal (I'm not sure I even know what it is) and chili paste in the chicken dressing. I could not find kaffir lime leaves, so I left those out.
In the salad dressing, I used serrano chiles instead of bird's eye chiles (I'm a wimp - what can I say), and I didn't blanch the green beans (we like raw veggies). Cashews were my topping.
We both loved the salad. I only did half of the salad greens, so we can have the second half of the recipe as a reprise. Yeah, don't have to cook again!
Thank you, Jerry! Loved the salad!
Here's my ingredients:
And the finished product:
Comments (9)
I'm trying this one for sure. Sounds exotic and I bet the taste is wonderful.
Posted by Barb Cabot | May 17, 2009 7:36 AM
Posted on May 17, 2009 07:36
Looks yummy. I like the plate with that cute apple on it!
Posted by Deborah | May 17, 2009 7:39 AM
Posted on May 17, 2009 07:39
Deborah, my plates have both apples and cherries on them, which represents (to me anyway) that I live in Cherry Valley and am about five miles from Oak Glen, where lots of apples are grown.
Posted by nancyhol | May 17, 2009 10:18 AM
Posted on May 17, 2009 10:18
Looks wonderful! I'll be making mine later today.
Posted by Cindy Ruth | May 17, 2009 10:37 AM
Posted on May 17, 2009 10:37
This one was a hit at my house. It was packed with so much flavor.
Posted by María I. | May 17, 2009 2:01 PM
Posted on May 17, 2009 14:01
I want to make this salad when I get home.
Posted by Eden | May 17, 2009 5:02 PM
Posted on May 17, 2009 17:02
Looks good. I think I used too much napa cabbage this time becase I have a LOT of salad leftover. It will be soooo good tomorrow.
Posted by Jerry | May 17, 2009 7:14 PM
Posted on May 17, 2009 19:14
I also used ginger for the same reason you did Nancy! And chili paste instead of fresh chilis.
Posted by Marcia | May 18, 2009 11:21 AM
Posted on May 18, 2009 11:21
I finally got around to making this one yesterday. I still need to post my notes for it. Like you ginger, no chilies (too hot for the girls) and I grated some lime zest instead of those leaves.
Posted by Kim | June 2, 2009 8:07 AM
Posted on June 2, 2009 08:07