Get your taste buds moving with our delicious Spicy Asian Chicken Salad. Packed with fresh crunchy vegetables and tossed together with a hot chilli garlic soy dressing, this shredded chicken recipe is perfect for entertaining the crowds.
Place chicken breast fillets in a large saucepan. Cover the chicken breasts with water.
Place the saucepan on the stove and bring to a boil.
Once boiled, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for another 5-6 minutes.
Turn off heat, place the lid on the saucepan and let chicken breasts rest in the hot water to continue cooking.
After 5 minutes, check if the chicken breasts are fully cooked. The meat should be opaque. If not, rest a little longer in the hot water.
Once cooked through, remove chicken breasts and run them under cold water or place them in an ice bath to stop them from further cooking. Shred once cooled down.
Salad
Thinly slice the cabbage leaves or shred using a food processor. Set aside for mixing.
Peel the cucumber and trim the ends. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and then again, so you have 4 long quarters. Thinly slice into matchsticks.
Peel the carrots and shred with a julienne peeler. If you don’t have one, cut the carrot into thin matchsticks or use a mandoline to shred it.
Wash and finely slice 2 sprigs of scallion (spring onion).
Wash and roughly chop the cilantro (coriander).
Salad Dressing
Peel and finely crush the garlic clove.
In a small bowl add garlic, black vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Mix well together until sugar dissolves.
Add chilli oil to dressing and mix well.
Taste and adjust flavours as required.
Assembly
In a mixing bowl, add shredded poached chicken, cabbage, cucumber and carrot together.
Mix together with dressing.
Scatter with chopped scallion (spring onion) and cilantro (coriander) and toss together.
Tumble into a large serving bowl and scatter sesame seeds to finish.
Notes
You don’t have to use Lao Gan Ma Chili oil. Any Chinese / Sichuan chilli oil would work, especially for those that have a nut allergy. Choose another brand of chilli oil that does not have peanuts.
For a gluten free recipe, substitute soy sauce for tamari.
Alternatives for poached chicken include shredded rotisserie chicken or pan-fried chicken. If you have leftover turkey or roast duck, the salad combination will also work well together.
If you are short on time, you can use store-bought coleslaw mix or substitute the vegetables with salad leaves.
Substitute Chinese black vinegar for rice wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar. Balsamic will be sweeter, so I would taste before adding any sugar.