Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Jill Nhu Huong Miller, from "Island Plate"
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts or thighs
  • 1 green onion
  • 1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and smashed
  • 1 small head cabbage finely shredded
  • About 20 fresh mint leaves washed and coarsely chopped
  • 3-4 sprigs Chinese parsley cilantro, coarsely chopped
  • 1 small hot, red (Hawaiian or Thai)
  • 1 chili pepper seeded and chopped
  • 1 clove fresh garlic peeled
  • 1/2 medium lime peeled, seeded and sectioned
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 4 tablespoon nuoc nom fish sauce

Instructions
 

  • In a large pot, put chicken in water to cover along with green onion and ginger; gently poach
  • Drain; cool and shred chicken
  • In a large bowl, toss together chicken, cabbage, mint leaves and Chinese parsley
  • Set aside
  • With a mortar and pestle, crush together chili, garlic, peeled lime sections and sugar
  • Scrape this into a jar and add vinegar and water, stirring
  • Add nuoc nam fish sauce and shake to emulsify
  • Dress chicken mixture with a tablespoon or more of the dressing
  • Store leftover dressing in the refrigerator up to two or three months.