About this recipe
Poached chicken torn into shreds and tossed with finely sliced cabbage, onion and a sharp fish-sauce dressing, finished with fried shallots and peanuts. The defining herb is rau răm, whose peppery, slightly bitter edge is the point of the dish; mint is not a substitute for it.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 4 servings as a starter or shared plate
- Prep
- 30 minutes
- Cook
- 25 minutes
- Total
- 55 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- Mild–Medium
Allergens Contains fish (fish sauce) and peanuts. Gluten-free if the fish sauce is gluten-free. Dairy-free.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The chicken
- 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or 4 thighs, about 1.5 lb (680 g)
- 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, sliced
- 2 scallions, halved
- 1 tsp (6 g) fine sea salt
The dressing
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) fish sauce
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) fresh lime juice
- 2 tbsp (25 g) granulated sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1–2 fresh red chillies, finely sliced
The salad
- 1/2 small green cabbage, about 12 oz (340 g), very finely shredded
- 1 small red onion, sliced paper-thin
- 1 medium carrot, cut into fine matchsticks
- 1 large handful Vietnamese coriander (rau răm) leaves, torn
- 1 small handful cilantro, roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp (25 g) roasted peanuts, coarsely crushed
- 3 tbsp (15 g) crisp fried shallots
Equipment
- Saucepan large enough to hold the chicken
- Mixing bowl
- Sharp knife or mandoline
Method
- Put the chicken in a saucepan with the ginger, scallions and salt. Add cold water to cover by 1 in (2.5 cm).
- Bring to a bare simmer, then lower the heat, cover, and poach very gently 18–22 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- Lift the chicken out and cool. Reserve the poaching liquid for another use. Discard skin and bones and tear the meat into coarse shreds along the grain.
- Whisk the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, garlic and chilli until the sugar dissolves. Taste — it should be sharply sour, clearly salty and only lightly sweet.
- Toss the cabbage, onion and carrot with about two-thirds of the dressing in a large bowl. Let stand 10 minutes, then squeeze out and discard any liquid that pools.
- Add the shredded chicken, rau răm and cilantro. Toss with the remaining dressing.
- Taste and adjust with lime or fish sauce.
- Pile onto a platter and scatter over the peanuts and fried shallots just before serving so they stay crisp.
Uses from this chapter
- Nước Chấm (Dipping Sauce) (Recipe #26) — Optional at the table for extra sharpness
The Complete Edition
Gỏi Gà (Chicken & Cabbage Salad) sits in the Vietnam chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Vietnam chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.