Vietnamese Salad with Poached Chicken

It seems like every other post of mine begins with an apology about being away for a long time... and similarly, this post is the same. Sorry! Over the past few months I've been immersed in a new day job and completing my masters degree. But now that university is finally over for me, I'm back again with renewed dedication to post much more frequently. So let's start with a current favourite, Vietnamese salad with poached chicken.

Since I've been on hiatus, a few things have happened. Despite not being visible on here, I've been putting a lot more effort in behind the scenes to learn and develop my skills in food photography, styling and editing. Firstly, taking courses, reading articles and watching videos. As a result, there has been some investments in equipment and applications and I've made some changes to the blog. Probably most notable for you: you will soon see a jump to recipe button under the heading of each post so you can skim over this waffle of mine and get right to the good stuff.

At the moment, I'm in the process of developing a schedule to plan my posts so expect some more consistent uploads! Both on here and my social media accounts. Plus, I'll be releasing new recipes to my email subscriber list each week, so if you'd like regular food stories and recipes, sign up below.

We're six days in to summer in Queensland, Australia and it's already hitting a spicy 36 degrees Celsius today (97°F), so naturally all I feel like eating is ice cream and salads. Ice cream recipes coming soon. For now, make this Vietnamese salad with shredded poached chicken because it is delicious. Like many southeast Asian dishes, the combination of sweet, tangy, spicy and salty works well as a dressing to liven up your vegetables. This recipe can also be made in advance, just reserve the dressing and toss it through before you plan on serving.

Vietnamese Salad with Poached Chicken

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

A summertime favourite - the perfect amount of fresh, crunch and crispy with soft poached shredded chicken.

• Author: Andrea
• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 15
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 4 serves 1x
• Category: Savoury
• Cuisine: Salad

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 400g chicken breast
• ¼ wombok (Chinese cabbage), shredded
• 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
• ½ continental cucumber, seeds removed, cut into matchsticks
• 1 small red onion, finely sliced
• 1 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• ½ cup salted crushed peanuts
• ½ cup fried shallots
• 200g dried vermicelli noodles, cooked and cooled

For the dressing:

• 1 red chilli, sliced thinly
• ⅓ cup lime juice
• ⅓ cup fish sauce
• ½ tbsp palm sugar (or castor sugar)

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Instructions

1. Place chicken breast in one layer at the bottom of a pot. Cover completely with cold water.
2. Bring water to a boil before covering with a lid and reducing to a simmer. Cook for approximately 8-12 minutes (depending on the size and number of chicken breasts) until opaque all the way through.
3. Remove from poaching liquid, and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, shred finely.
4. Assemble the salad by combining shredded chicken breast with noodles, wombok, carrot, cucumber, onion, mint and coriander leaves.
5. To make the dressing, whisk all ingredients in a bowl. Pour over salad and toss to combine.
6. Divide salad into four portions. Top with crushed peanuts and fried shallots to serve.

Notes

• Find more comprehensive instructions on how to poach chicken breast here. Poaching chicken to perfection is such a frustration sometimes and The Kitchn's helpful guide makes it a lot easier.
• If you'd prefer to keep this as just a salad, the recipe works exactly the same if you remove the vermicelli noodles. Just watch the dressing to make sure you're not drowning your vegetables, or alternatively, add more shredded wombok.
• Rather than chicken, this salad works great with barbecue pork, prawns or crispy tofu.