Crunchy Vietnamese Chicken Salad
Easy
Crunchy Vietnamese Chicken Salad from Neven Maguire’s Book ‘The Nation’s Favourite Healthy Food’ This salad is packed full of flavour and has the added bonus of being very transportable. Just keep the dressing in a separate jar and add it right before serving. I love cooking chicken thighs this way, as you end up with crispy skin and succulent flesh.
PREP IN
130 MIN
COOK IN
40 MIN
SERVE
4
Crunchy Vietnamese Chicken Salad
Easy
PREP IN
130 MIN
COOK IN
40 MIN
SERVE
4
Introduction
Crunchy Vietnamese Chicken Salad from Neven Maguire’s Book ‘The Nation’s Favourite Healthy Food’ This salad is packed full of flavour and has the added bonus of being very transportable. Just keep the dressing in a separate jar and add it right before serving. I love cooki
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Ingredients
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced DRESSING:
- 1 large shallot, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp minced fresh root ginger
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- 4 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 4 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
- ½ tsp Chinese five-spice powder
- 8 boneless chicken thighs, with skin
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 100g (4oz) green beans, trimmed and sliced into 2cm (1in) lengths
- 275g (10oz) mixed baby salad leaves
- 225g (8oz) cherry plum tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 1 small red pepper, halved, seeded and diced
- 1 large carrot, julienned into fine shreds
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
FOR DRESSING:
Method
- 1. To make the marinade, place the garlic in a mini blender or pestle and mortar along with the shallot, ginger and maple syrup, then work to a paste. Transfer to a small bowl and whisk in the soy sauce, Thai fish sauce, five spice powder and several grinds of pepper.
- 2. Arrange the chicken thighs in a shallow, non-metallic dish and pour over the marinade, turning until well coated. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight is best. Bring back to room temperature before cooking and wipe off any excess marinade with kitchen paper. Reserve any remaining marinade.
- 3. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat. Pour in the rapeseed oil, then add the chicken thighs, skin side down. Cook for 20–30 minutes, until the skin is golden and crispy. Don’t be tempted to touch them while they are cooking or shake the pan occasionally – just leave them alone and you will produce the most fantastic crisp skin and succulent flesh. If you think that they are starting to catch and burn a little around the edges, add a couple tablespoons of the reserved marinade. When you can see that they are nicely browned and that the flesh is almost but not quite cooked through, turn them over and cook for another 5–6 minutes, until completely cooked through and tender. Remove from the heat and leave to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes.
