Vietnamese Chicken & Pickled Cabbage Salad
I've always loved Vietnamese food. It's often gluten free and sooo tasty. After our trip to Vietnam, I now understand why. Sugar! Everything has a little sugar or caramel in it. Considering this is my vice, i'm all in!
This recipe takes about 90 minutes and feeds 4 people. There was none left over so I can't comment on how well it keeps but considering the pickling of the cabbage, i'd say it would lose a little of its crunch by the next day.
Ingredients
Chicken
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 Spring onions
4 cm ginger, cut into matchsticks
6 skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
1 Tbs fish sauce
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1 small red chilli, thinly sliced
Cabbage Salad
1 small wombok cabbage, thinly sliced
3 tsp salt
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 Tbs finely chopped ginger
1 long red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 Tbs finely chopped mint,
1/4 cup coriander leaves roughly chopped
Method
For the pickled cabbage salad, toss the sliced cabbage in 3 tsp salt and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar, caster sugar, ginger and chilli together until sugar has dissolved. Add the cabbage and toss to combine. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
Place sugar and 1/4 cup water in saucepan over medium- high heat and leave until dark caramel forms (about 6-8 minutes). Remove fro the heat and pour in 100 ml water ( stand back as it may spatter). Swirl the pan and dilute the caramel, then set aside.
Cut the chicken into strips and season. In a fry pan with a lid, heat the oil on medium heat and add the spring onion and ginger and cook for 3 minutes until soft. Transfer to a bowl. Turn the heat on high and cook chicken for 2 minutes on each side, to seal the chicken. Then add the caramel, fish sauce and chilli flakes, cover with a lid, reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the lid, add the spring onion and ginger return the heat to high and cook the chicken until the sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through and turned a couple of times to coat well in the sauce. (about 5-10 minutes)
When ready to serve, use a slotted spoon to scoop the cabbage into bowls, add a sprinkling of the mint and coriander and top with the chicken. Finish with a little of the caramel sauce.
Tips
Alter the chilli amount depending on your preference
