Vietnamese Chicken, Cabbage and Mint Salad.

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Vietnam. Goi ga. Vietnamese Cabbage, Chicken and Mint Salad.

For my money, this is one of the world’s most delicious salads. But, unless you cook a lot of Vietnamese food and have some of the ingredients ready made, there is quite a bit of prep..

You should be able to get this at any decent Vietnamese restaurant, and find it in any cookbook, but this particular version (from Pauline Nguyen’s incredible book Secrets of the Red Lantern) is in a league of its own.

Following the order I’ve outlined below speeds everything up and minimizes dish washing

Recipes after the jump.

Roasted Rice.

Roast a half cup of rice (I use sticky) in a dry pan over medium heat. Stir constantly. It is ready when golden brown. Empty from pan, cool rice then grind to a powder in a mortar and pestle. This will keep in a jar for at least a week or two. Save for other Khmer/Lao/Thai/Vietnamese salads.

Dry Roasted Peanuts.

Wipe the pan and roast a cup or so of raw peanuts over a medium heat. Stir constantly. Crush enough of the result to make 2 Tblspns crushed roasted peanuts. Put the rest in a jar and use over the coming week or two (grind when needed). Or just snack.

The Oil, Shallots and Garlic.

Wipe the pan. Add about a quarter cup of oil. Heat to a point where a 1cm/half inch cube of bread browns in 15 seconds. Add two or three very finely sliced shallots, and stir to separate. Cook until brown (they need to be browned right through). Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain very well. Pat dry with paper towels if necessary. Will keep in a jar for a few days, but will soften.

Bring oil back to heat and fry 2 or 3 finey sliced cloves garlic. Remove when golden (not brown) and drain very well. Will keep in a jar for a few days, but will go chewy.

Let the oil cool, then strain it into a bowl or jar. This only keeps for a day or so, and loses its aroma rapidly.

The Dipping Sauce Dressing

Heat 2 Tblspn sugar, 3 Tblspn rice vinegar and 3 Tblspn fish sauce in a small pan until almost boiled. Allow to cool. Add 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 minced birds eye chili and the juice of 1 lime (about 2 Tblspn). This will keep for a few days in the fridge and is a dipping sauce. Dip things in it!

The Salad.

• Meat of half a small poached chicken from stockmaking, 2 large poached chicken thighs or meat from half a barbecued chicken, shredded.
• 200g (5-7oz) finely sliced or shredded white cabbage
• A dozen fine slices of white or purple salad onion (about 1 small-medium)
• A dozen perilla leaves
• A dozen spearmint leaves
• Handful Vietnamese mint
• 1 tsp of the roasted rice powder
• 1 tsp of the fried garlic
• 2 tsp of the shallot/garlic oil

Toss the chicken, cabbage, onion, mints, rice powder and garlic together. Add oil and toss again.

The Final Garnish.

• 3-4 Tblspn of the dipping sauce/dressing
• 1 Tblspn of the roasted peanuts
• 1 Tblspn of the shallots.
• 1 small very finely sliced chili

Add the final garnish and dressing ingredients. Toss thoroughly. Serve.

Note: You can sub ordinary spearmint for the Vietnamese herbs and still get a really good result. It’s usually what I do.

The leftover stockpot chicken is very traditional, but there’s no reason not to substitute something else like fish or tofu.

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Filed under Salads, Vietnamese Food, Vietnamese Recipes

Tags: cabbage, chicken, food, goi ga, mint., napa, recipe, salad, vietnamese, vietnamese coleslaw, vietnamese recipe