In my effort to continue playing catch up with the salad samplers, for dinner Monday night, I made Jerry’s, Thai Chicken Salad. Both Chris and I enjoyed it though Becky wasn’t 100% thrilled. I’d make it again though.

I’ve got many notes here because I skipped some “exotic” ingredients and blew preparation a bit.

Thai Chicken Salad

Thai Chicken Salad

For the chicken:
4 roasted chicken breasts (I bought chicken breasts on bone w/ skin, seasoned w/ salt and pepper and roasted them in a 425 degree oven until they were done)
½ tsp chopped galangal (can substitute with ginger and I did)
Juice of two limes
1 ½ tsp minced bird’s eye chilies (or 1 tsp chili paste such as sambel oelek – I opted for the chili paste)
2 shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 kaffir lime leaves – centre rib removed, cut in a chiffonade (I didn’t have these so grated the zest of a lime)
¾ tsp fish sauce

Shred the chicken breast. Mix all of the dressing ingredients. Toss the shredded chicken with the dressing. Adjust the seasonings – there should be a balance of hot, sour, and salt. To adjust seasonings in Thai food follow these rough guidelines . . . if it is too sweet add more fish sauce . . . too salty add more sugar . . . not tangy enough – add more lime juice . . . not hot enough – add more chili or some sambel oelek

For the salad base:
2 T fish sauce
2 T palm sugar – (can substitute with regular or brown sugar – I used brown)
¼ cup lime juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 bird’s eye chilies, minced (I, again used chili paste – too lazy to mince, and very little because I thought it would be too spicy for Becky).
1 bunch watercress, trimmed
8 Napa cabbage leaves cut in a chiffonade (I stole Amy’s idea and used a bag of pre-shredded cole slaw because I didn’t think Chris could handle finding/buying Napa cabbage)
16 cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 cup blanched green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
½ bunch cilantro, leaves trimmed and coarsely chopped
½ bunch mint, leaves trimmed and cut in a chiffonade (I used more cilantro and a little basil because I’m not a big fan of mint)
½ cup roasted peanuts (non-salted) or cashews, chopped

Mix the fish sauce through to chilies in a jar. Stir/shake well to dissolve sugar. Taste for seasonings). Store it in the refrigerator overnight so the flavors come together. I forgot to do this the night before, so they had very little marinating – also I mixed everything in my blender.
Mix together the watercress through mint in a large bowl. Toss with dressing.

To serve:
Divide the vegetable mixture amongst 4 plates (I just put everything in one big bowl). Add the chicken on top of the vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with chopped, roasted nuts. You can also add some cilantro to garnish.