Thursday, September 2, 2010

Shredded Cabbage and Chicken Salad

When Jesse and I visited Aunt Vicky in Cleveland,OH when we first moved to Buffalo, she took us to a Vietnamese restaurant. She ordered this dish and told us that she gets this dish often when coming to this restaurant because she liked it. Here is the recipe for that dish. This recipe is also from "The Home style Vietnamese Cooking" book.

Think of this dish as the Vietnamese version of the Western coleslaw, a dish of shredded cabbage dressed with a light mixture. But this recipe contains both shredded cabbage and shredded carrots, plus chicken and refreshing mint leaves, turning this into a light yet satisfying meal. You can make the dressing in advance and refrigerate it until ready to use. Plan to serve this dish as part of a whole meal to serve 6; alternatively, this recipe makes a light main salad serving 2 or 3.

250g (2 cups) chicken breast, cooked and shredded
320g (4 cups) shredded cabbage
1 large carrot, coarsely grated
10g (1/4 cup) fresh mint leaves
50g (1/4 cup) roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Fresh coriander (cilantro) sprigs for garnishing (optional)

Dressing:
2 Thai chillies, minced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons salad oil
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. To make the salad, combine the shredded chicken, cabbage, carrots and mint leaves in a large mixing bowl.
2. To make the dressing, combine the dressing ingredients in a bowl, stirring well to mix. Dress the salad and toss well to combine.
3. Transfer the salad to a serving plate. Garnish with the chopped peanuts and coriander sprigs and serve.

Serves 2-3
Preparation time: 10 mins

3 comments:

  1. It looks like the secret to this recipe is in the dressing. It looks wonderful! Would the closest substitution to Thai peppers be serrano? I would also probably have to substitute parsley for the mint. I doubt I could get mint down here. (At least not in San Benito)Another thing to add to my herb garden list. Thanks, Duylinh!

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  2. I would say that is the closest substitute, but you might give a different flavor to the dish. I think I've seen Thai chili seeds in Dallas often. I'll keep my eye out for you the next time i'm down there. We eat them whole, you know. Not the seeds....the pepper! =)

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  3. Duylinh,I made this last night. It was WONDERFUL! I had boiled a chicken the day before. It took almost all of both breasts to get the 2 cups of chicken. I was surprised at how much it made. I had to use parsley instead of mint and serrano instead of Thai pepper. I used only 1 long serrano for fear of it being too hot. What a curious thing that the finely chopped onion is added to the dressing ingredients. Is there a reason for that? I couldn't help noticing that the ingredients featured the "3 C's" to fight cancer: cabbage, carrots, and chicken. This is my kind of dish! It was light, very healthy with all the raw vegetables and VERY delicious. This is a perfect summer dish. I can see the mint would have made it even more refreshing. I will definitely be repeating this.

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