Saigon Chicken and Cabbage Salad

By sarah_carroll

Ingredients

• 500 gm skinless chicken thighs
• 80 gm (1/3 cup) honey
• 1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
• 1 tsp finely grated ginger
• 1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 250 gm (about 1/4) each white and red cabbage, thinly sliced on a mandolin
• 3 carrots, cut into julienne
• 1/4 cup (firmly packed) each mint, coriander, Thai basil and Vietnamese mint
• 1 bunch chives, finely chopped
• 12 canned quail eggs (see note)
• 70 gm (1/2 cup) roast peanuts, coarsely chopped
• Chilli and lime dressing
• 5 long red chillies, coarsely chopped
• 3 coriander roots, scraped
• 1 golden shallot, finely chopped
• 1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 very ripe Roma tomato, coarsely chopped
• 50 gm caster sugar
• Juice of 2 limes, or to taste
• 1 tbsp fish sauce, or to taste

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

1 Preheat oven to 200C. Combine chicken, honey, chilli, ginger and garlic in a small roasting tray, season to taste, cover with foil and roast until chicken is just cooked (10-15 minutes). Remove foil, cool to room temperature, then coarsely shred chicken and set aside.
2 Meanwhile, for chilli and lime dressing, pound chilli, coriander root, shallot and garlic in a mortar and pestle, add tomato and pound to combine. Add 25ml water and remaining ingredients, adjust seasoning to taste (dressing should be sweet, salty, hot and sour), set aside.
3 Combine cabbage, carrot and herbs in a bowl, add chicken, drizzle over a little dressing, toss to combine, add more dressing to taste, scatter with quail eggs and peanuts and serve.