Vietnamese inspired coconut poached chicken noodle salad

Fresh, tasty, and quick to throw together. This healthy noodle salad is a lunchtime regular in our household. I often poach a couple of large chicken breasts ahead of time on the weekend, so that they’re ready to go for lunches during the week.

Recipe serves two portions.

Ingredients

• 100g x dried noodles, cooked to packet instructions
• 1 x large chicken breast (if you’re using a smaller sized chicken breast, I’d suggest reducing the simmer time by a about 2-3 minutes)
• 200ml x coconut milk (about half a regular sized can)
• 150 ml x water
• 1/2 x large cucumber, sliced
• 2 cups x shredded cabbage (I used raw cabbage here, but feel free to steam / boil / saute instead)
• 1 x tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 x tablespoon coconut milk
• 1 x teaspoon lemon or lime juice
• 1 x red chilli, sliced fine (feel free to remove seeds or leave out completely)
• 1/4 cup x peanuts (I’ve used unsalted raw peanuts here, but feel free to use whatever nuts you have handy)
• 1/4 cup x Vietnamese mint

Method 

• In a small-medium sized pot, add the water and 200ml coconut milk. Add the chicken breast to the pot and bring to the boil. The chicken breast should be almost / fully submerged in the liquid.
• As soon as the liquid comes to the boil, bring down the heat to a gentle simmer, and place the lid on.  Leave to simmer for about 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave to stand with the lid on for about 5 minutes, the remove from the pot, and leave to rest / cool while you assemble the rest of the ingredients. Reserve the poaching liquid.
• Place cooked noodles in each of the bowls.
• Arrange the cucumber and cabbage in each of the bowls.
• Shred the chicken breast with two forks. The meat should be cooked through but juicy. Arrange the chicken breast in each of the bowls.
• Combine the fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of coconut milk, lemon / lime juice and about 1 tablespoon of the poaching liquid in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly, and then pour over the chicken breast.
• Arrange the Vietnamese mint, chilli and peanuts on top of the bowls. Enjoy!

I like to reserve the poaching liquid, and use as the base for homemade laksa.

Green chilli gun powder salsa

Definitely not for the faint of heart. My green chilli gun powder salsa packs a real punch. Low in salt and exploding in flavour, this multi-purpose (and gluten free!) salsa can be used as a marinade, a dressing or even as a dipping sauce. This recipe makes about 250ml.

Even though green chillies are usually less spicy than red ones, but this salsa is usually still quite spicy. I get my green chillies from an asian grocer, but ones from the supermarket will work just as well. If you’re not a fan of super spicy food, either reduce the number of chillies and garlic in the recipe, or alternatively, add some water and / or olive oil to the salsa each time you use it to dilute it slightly.

Ingredients 

• 3 x large green chillies
• 5 x cloves of fresh garlic
• 1 x small brown onion
• 2 x full cups’ worth of continental parsley
• 1 x teaspoon black pepper corns
• 1 x teaspoon rock salt
• 1/2 x teaspoon dried sumac
• 1 x teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 2 x tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 x tablespoons water
• The juice of 2 small lemons or one large lemon

Method 

Add all ingredients into a food processor and blitz for about a minute until smooth. If you prefer a chunkier salsa, pulse gently until you achieve your desired consistency.

Roast chicken with crispy skin and asian greens

Ingredients

• 2 x chicken Maryland pieces
• 3 x tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 x tablespoon salt
• 1 x teaspoon black pepper
• 2 x cloves of garlic
• 4 x birds eye chillies
• 500g x choy sum
• 200g x snow pea shoots
• 1 x handful fresh coriander
• 1x handful fresh parsely
• 1 x dash light soy sauce
• 1 x teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 x tablespoon water

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil.

First, prepare the chicken Maryland pieces by drying the chicken skin with a paper towel (this is important to ensure the skin is extra crispy). If using frozen chicken pieces, make sure they’re completely defrosted before you begin. Place the chicken Maryland pieces on top of the lined baking tray and drizzle 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over the top of the chicken. Sprinkle the salt and black pepper evenly over the chicken skin.

Roast the chicken in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, begin preparing the vegetables. Wash the choy sum, coriander and snow pea shoots thoroughly under running water. Take care to wash the bottom of each bunch carefully as I often find they’re full of sand / soil. Once washed, chop the choy sum into two – leaves and stalks. Chop the coriander and parsley leaves roughly, stalks and all.

Crush the garlic cloves using the back or your chopping knife, or a mortar and pestle. Cut the chillies into small pieces.

Once the chicken is almost ready (I usually wait till it’s got about 5 minutes left to go), begin to cook the vegetables (they only take a few minutes to cook). Add the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil into a heated wok (or frying pan) with the crushed garlic and chillies. Then, add the choy sum stalks into the wok and stir for a minute or two. Once the choy sum stalks have softened slightly, add in the snow pea shoots, choy sum leaves, fresh coriander and parsley along with one tablespoon of water, stirring continuously. Once the vegetables are cooked through, turn off the heat, add the light soy sauce and sesame oil to finish, and stir through.

Check the chicken to see it’s cooked through by making a small incision into the flesh. If the juices run clear, its cooked. If the juices run pink, leave the chicken in the oven for another 5 minutes. The chicken skin should be very crispy by now.

Once the chicken is cooked through, you’re ready to plate up! Place the vegetables and chicken on a plate. Pour a tablespoon of the pan juices from the bottom of the roasting pan over the top of the vegetables for added flavour.

My favourite chilli dipping sauce

Perfect with fishcakes or rice paper rolls, delicious over steamed fish, or even as a salad dressing. There is almost always a bowl of this in my fridge!

Ingredients

• 2 x cloves of garlic, finely diced
• 4 x birds eye chillies, red and / or green, chopped fine
• 1 x tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 x teaspoon coconut flower nectar (alternatively, you can use palm sugar or any other sweetener of your choice)
• 1 x tablespoon of lemon juice

Before we begin…

This is literally the easiest dipping sauce to throw together. Just a word of caution, I am a chilli fiend so this may be a little spicy for most. You can easily tone down the spice by reducing the number of chillies you use. On the flip side, if you – like me – can’t eat anything without a good chilli kick, feel free to add an extra chilli and an extra clove of garlic. I always give my chillies a good “smack” with the side of my chopping knife, which makes them spicier (I cannot explain it, but it’s something I learnt at a cooking class in Thailand, and I swear by it).

Make sure you protect your hands before handling chillies. Sometimes my hands hurt a little from the burn of chilli membranes, so I rub my hands with a little olive oil (any other oil is fine) before handling chillies. When you wash your hands with soap afterwards, all the chilli should come off. Alternatively, another good trick is to wear rubber gloves.

Coconut flower nectar is not to be confused with coconut sugar (the stuff you get at hipster coffee joints) it’s a natural sweetener that looks a lot like thick creamed honey (see photo below). It can be a little difficult to source, but you can find it at most health food stores and some Asian grocers.

This recipe makes one small bowl (enough for one in my opinion!) that should be enough to serve 2-3 people.

Method

Add the garlic, chillies, fish sauce and lemon juice into a small mixing bowl and mix together.

Once combined, mix in the coconut sugar, and taste. Depending on how hot the chillies are, you may need to add a little more lemon juice to balance out the heat of the chillies.

You shouldn’t need to add any salt (fish sauce is very salty), but if you find you need a bit more salt, add a dash more fish sauce.

Other variations…

If you like coriander, add in a tablespoon of chopped coriander and some finely sliced fresh ginger. Alternatively, I sometimes add one small shallot finely diced and tablespoon of mint (normal or Vietnamese mint, whatever you have handy).