Chicken Salad with Turmeric, Chilli, Lime, Peanuts by Caravan

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Chicken Salad with Turmeric, Chilli, Lime, Peanuts

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Chicken Salad with Turmeric, Chilli, Lime, Peanuts

Other

Main

45 mins

Chicken

Easy

Serves

4 to 6

This salad is inspired by Burmese cuisine and really brings the heat, so is perfect for a summer dinner. Enjoy al fresco then pack up any leftovers to enjoy al desko for the rest of the week. If you have trouble finding green papaya or kohlrabi, you can replace these ingredients with cucumber, celery, thinly sliced cabbage or unripe or green mango.

Recipe courtesy of

Ingredients

4 skinless chicken breasts, ideally free-range
1 tbsp nam pla (fish sauce)
40g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
4 coriander stalks
2 large carrots, peeled and julienned
60g spinach leaves, sliced
1⁄2 green papaya, julienned
150g kohlrabi, julienned
1 red chilli, sliced
Handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped
100g toasted peanuts, crushed

‍For the dressing‍

200ml vegetable oil or neutral flavoured oil
1 large brown onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
20g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
Zest of 3 limes
150ml lime juice
80ml nam pla (fish sauce)

Caravan use a mandolin to prepare our julienned vegetables so that they get super-long spaghetti-style strips. If you don’t have a mandolin, use a vegetable peeler to create long strips, which you can fold in half, end on end, and then finely slice with a sharp knife.

Method

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Method

First poach the chicken. Place the chicken breasts in a single layer into a pan – ideally the breasts should fit quite snugly on the bottom of the pan. Pour over 750ml water, or enough to just cover the breasts. Add the fish sauce, ginger and coriander stalks.
Place over a high heat to bring the contents of the pan to the boil quickly, then reduce the heat to as gentle a simmer as your stove allows. Cover with a lid and allow to simmer gently for 8 minutes.
Turn the heat off and set aside with the lid on for a further 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the liquid and set aside to cool. Once cool, shred the chicken making sure to tear the breasts lengthways to ensure long strips of meat. Set aside.
To make the dressing, heat a little of the vegetable oil in a pan over a medium heat and gently sweat the onions, garlic and ginger for 5–10 minutes until everything has completely softened but not browned.
Add the remainder of the oil to the pan with the turmeric and paprika and simmer for a few minutes so that the spices lose their ‘raw’ taste. Transfer the contents of the pan to a bowl and allow to cool completely. When completely cooled, add the lime zest and juice and fish sauce to the bowl and mix to combine. Taste and adjust with more lime juice or fish sauce as you see fit. Store the dressing in the fridge until ready to use – it will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
To assemble the salad, mix the shredded chicken in a large bowl with the carrot, spinach, green papaya and kohlrabi. Add the dressing, chilli and herbs and mix well. Transfer the salad to a serving dish and sprinkle crushed peanuts over the top to serve.