Vietnamese Chicken Salad

I might have been repeating myself with the New Year’s resolution I made last month. But, I meant it this time. I resolved to pull all those books off the shelf that have several pages marked with colorful sticky flags and cook the things I’ve been meaning to try for ages. With a new kitchen ready to be put to work, it’s time to cook even more new and different things than ever. So, off to the bookshelves I went, and the first book I grabbed was The Slanted Door which currently has no fewer than nine sticky flags poking up from the tops of pages. Every time I look through this book I find more pages to mark. Last weekend, I decided to try the Vietnamese Chicken Salad. This book doesn’t ask too much of the reader as far as hunting down specific ingredients is concerned, but there is an occasional item called for that’s not so easy to find. In this recipe, that ingredient was rau ram leaves which are also called Vietnamese coriander. I used cilantro leaves instead. The salad was primarily poached chicken, fresh green cabbage, and rice noodles. With lots of pretty heads of cabbage to be found at the farmers’ markets right now, this was a great time to make this salad. 

In the book, a whole chicken is suggested for this recipe, but I used a couple of bone-in breasts instead. The chicken was salted, rinsed, and set aside while a pot of water was brought to a boil. The chicken, some sliced ginger, and four green onions were added to the boiling water and left to cook for 15 minutes. The heat was turned off, the pot was covered, and the chicken was left to sit in the hot water for another 15 minutes. Then, the chicken was removed from the water, allowed to cool, and the meat was pulled from the bones and shredded. Meanwhile, a half head of cabbage was sliced into thin ribbons. The cabbage ribbons were salted and left in a colander for a few minutes before being rinsed and drained. Rice noodles were cooked, drained, and set aside, and I tossed them with a little oil to prevent them from sticking together. The sauce for this salad was a flavored fish sauce made by adding white vinegar, water, minced garlic, and minced Thai chiles to plain fish sauce. Sugar was also to be added, but I’m preferring less sugar in food lately and used a smaller amount of agave syrup instead. To complete the salad, the cabbage, cilantro leaves, and rice noodles were tossed with the flavored fish sauce. The chicken was added and tossed with the other ingredients. Each plate was garnished with fried shallots and chopped peanuts. 

I should have known better than to wing it with the number of chiles in this. I was sure I would want one more minced Thai chile in the sauce. Next time, I’ll stick to the recommended amount. So, yes, this was a spicy dish, and luckily I do like spicy. It’s also light and refreshing with the vinegar and cilantro. The flavors got even better after the salad had sat in the refrigerator for a bit. Now, I’m off to find more pages marked in other books and more new dishes to try. 

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. 

Tweet

Spicy Squid and Shrimp Stir-Fry

In my last post, I apologized for all the salads lately. Of course, I blame this on the temporary kitchen. As long as we’re living in our temporary home waiting for our new home to be finished, I’m going to lack interest in spending time in this little kitchen that doesn’t have enough countertop space. I’ve been cooking mostly quick and simple things that don’t require much room to prepare with only a few forays into baking. Below is a photo of the current state of my new kitchen. It’s still very unfinished, but I can’t wait for the day when I can start cooking in it. 

In the meantime, here’s another dish that was simple to prepare and one that came packed with big, spicy flavors. This is from The Slanted Door book by Charles Phan, and this is a book I purchased back around the holidays. I read the book right after purchasing it and marked a lot of pages of things to try. I tried the Crab with Cellophane Noodles for my birthday in March and loved it. I’ve been meaning to try the Vegetarian Spring Rolls and Vegetarian Imperial Rolls, but sadly, they both would be easier to construct with more work space than I currently have. Other recipes marked include Vietnamese Chicken Salad, Spicy Lemongrass Soup, Seared Scallops in Vietnamese Beurre Blanc, Shrimp and Long Beans, Cashew Chicken with gingko nuts and Chinese dates, and the luscious-looking Vietnamese Chocolate Tres Leches Cake. When I get settled in my new kitchen, I plan to spend a couple of days cooking through these pages. For now, I’ll stick to simpler dishes like this stir-fry. 

In the book, it’s made with only squid, but I added shrimp as well. The squid tubes were cut into rings, and the shrimp were cleaned and deveined. I chopped a pineapple into chunks and prepped the bell pepper and jalapeno. The cooking goes very quickly, so everything should be prepped and ready. First, the squid and shrimp were cooked in batches in a hot wok over high heat. Cooking a few pieces at a time ensure the heat in the wok doesn’t drop too much as the seafood is added. Each batch of the squid and shrimp was removed after cooking for a minute or two and set aside. Next, pineapple chunks, bell pepper strips, jalapeno slices, a split serrano chile, and a couple of tablespoons of sake were added to the wok. This mixture was cooked for a couple of minutes before the seafood was returned to the wok. Thai basil leaves and fish sauce were added and stirred to combine. I served the stir-fry with steamed jasmine rice and more Thai basil. 

I’ve mentioned before my love of spicy chiles and sweet fruit with seafood, and I was delighted with it here. With the sliced jalapeno with seeds left in place, this was a dish with definite heat as it was intended. The sweet pineapple balances the heat well. This could easily become part of our regular meal rotation. Spicy stir-fry for Friday dinner works for me in any kitchen. 

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

Tweet