Hot dinner: Vietnamese style leftover chicken salad

 
Gok Wan's recipe for Vietnamese style leftover chicken salad
3 July 2012

Vietnamese style leftover chicken salad by Gok Wan, star of the BBC2 TV series Gok Cooks Chinese and author of the accompanying book (£20, Michael Joseph/Penguin)

Whether it’s catering for a dinner party, birthday party, wedding or the biggest celebration in Asia, Chinese New Year, the look and aesthetic of the food we serve is hugely important. The Chinese have a brilliant knack of paring down even the most complicated of dishes, simply serving them on a three-way palette of black, gold and red. When dressing your delicious food to serve to friends and family, adopt as your mantra Coco Chanel’s formidable quote: ‘When accessorizing always take off the last thing you put on.’ If you employ this simple technique to your food, I guarantee it will look as gorgeous as it tastes fabulous. This dish is so versatile, it works both hot and cold.

SERVES 4; PREPARATION TIME 5 MINS

INGREDIENTS

For the salad:

350g cooked chicken, torn into strips

250g vermicelli noodles, soaked and drained according to packet instructions

1 medium cucumber, roughly peeled, sliced lengthways, deseeded and finely sliced

2 carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1 fennel bulb, very finely sliced

2 spring onions, cut into matchsticks

a small bunch of fresh mint, leaves roughly torn

salt and ground white pepper

For the dressing:

4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

1–2 teaspoons fish sauce, to taste

a pinch of caster sugar

½ a fresh long red chilli, finely chopped

½ teaspoon sesame oil

1. Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together. Taste and adjust as necessary so that you have a harmonious balance of flavours, with none more dominant than the others.

2. Put the salad ingredients into a bowl and mix together, tossing the noodles around to separate the strands and combine them well with the other ingredients. Pour over a little of the dressing and toss. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper if necessary.

3. Put the salad into a serving dish and pour over the remaining dressing, mixing well to coat the noodles.

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