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Chicken Salad with Vietnamese Seasonings

The ideal herb for seasoning this salad is rau ram, which is not impossible to find if a well-stocked Asian store or supermarket is in your area; you can pick up your Thai fish sauce (page 500) while you’re there. The best alternative is a combination of cilantro and mint, which comes pretty close. If you don’t have precooked chicken, just simmer chicken breasts (bone-in are best) in water to cover for 10 to 15 minutes. When the meat is done, pull it from the bone (continue cooking the bones, perhaps with a few vegetables like carrots and onions, to make stock) and chop or shred.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes 4 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon nam pla
1 teaspoon cracked or coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 small fresh chile, preferably Thai, minced, or 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, or to taste
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 medium to large shallots, chopped
2 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup chopped rau ram or 1/4 cup each mint and cilantro leaves
Salt to taste
12 or 16 leaves Boston, red leaf, or green leaf lettuce

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Combine the first 7 ingredients in a bowl and toss with the chicken; set a bit of the herb aside for garnish, then stir the rest into the mixture. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding salt if necessary.

    Step 2

    Arrange the lettuce on 4 plates and top each leaf with a portion of the chicken salad. Garnish with the remaining herb and serve.

The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved. MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.
TagsSaladVietnameseSoutheast AsianAsianChickenPoultryMainDinnerLunchDairy FreeNut FreeEasyWeeknight Meals30 Minutes or LessQuickPassoverRosh HashanahCookbooks
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