Vietnamese chicken salad

Prep time: 20 min, plus cooling and marinating

Cook time: 5 min

Serves: 4

This summery salad recipe from Pho packs a punch with chilli and ginger dressing

Ingredients

Mooli and carrot salad

• 230 g carrots
• 230 g daikon radish
• ½ tsp salt
• 60 ml rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar

For the ginger sauce

• 10 cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 Thai red chillies, seeds removed, chopped
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• Pinch sugar

For the salad

• 1 small cooked chicken breast
• 1 large handful of mixed herbs, such as Vietnamese coriander (rau ram), perilla (tia to), coriander, Thai basil
• 40 g celery, finely shredded
• 190 g white cabbage, finely shredded
• 20 g red onions, finely shredded
• 30 g red peppers, finely shredded
• 30 g yellow peppers, finely shredded

To garnish

• 2 tbsp fried garlic
• 2 tbsp fried shallots

Method

1. For the mooli and carrot salad: Place the rice vinegar, sugar and 330ml water into a pan and bring to the boil. As soon as it boils allow to cool to room temperature.

2. Julienne the carrot and the mooli to matchstick thickness. Place together in a sieve and mix.

3. Sprinkle with salt and allow to stand for at least 30 minutes. This will draw some of the liquid out of the vegetables. Place the sieve over a bowl to catch and drips.

4. Rinse the vegetables under cold water to remove the salt and squeeze dry in a clean towel.

5. Place in a clean bowl and pour over the vinegar solution and allow to stand for at least one hour before serving.

6. To serve remove the pickled vegetables from the vinegar. Any extra can be left in the liquid and stored in a sealed container in the fridge for around 3 days.

7. For the dressing: blend the ginger, chilli and garlic together. Add the fish sauce and vinegar a little at a time to make a fairly thick paste. Season with a little salt and sugar.

8. For the salad: mix the chicken and herbs with a little of the ginger dressing. Strain the carrot and mooli pickle and add this along with the celery, cabbage, red onion and peppers. Turn about 3 times with a large spoon to coat all the ingredients in dressing. Do not over turn the salad.

9. Serve immediately with the rest of the ginger dressing on the side and the fried garlic and shallot on top. 

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