Chicken Salad with Toasted Coconut and Roasted Cashews
Served over a bed of mixed greens, Chicken Salad with Toasted Coconut and Roasted Cashews is a modern Chinese take on a summer classic.
Servings 4 to 5
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1-1/2 pounds (or so) boneless chicken breast, sliced on the diagonal so the pieces are approximately the same thickness
- 2 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil (grapeseed is good)
- 1/4 cup sweetened, toasted coconut flakes (from about 1/3 cup untoasted—see Kitchen Notes)
- 1/2 cup roasted, unsalted cashews
- 1 red bell pepper sliced into slivers
- 1-1/2 tablespoons pickled ginger (we use Wel-Pac brand)
- 1/4 cup coriander leaves plus a few for garnish
- 1 cup sliced cucumber
- Mesclun or mixed greens lettuce mix
- Crispy rice sticks (optional—see Kitchen Notes)
For the dressing
- 3 tablespoons juice from pickled ginger (see Kitchen Notes)
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- One stick lemongrass (optional)
Instructions
- Sauté the chicken in the oil, salting it very lightly. When the pieces are just cooked through, put them in a container, cover and refrigerate until chilled.
- Prepare the dressing. In a small bowl, add the pickled ginger juice, salt, the vinegar, chili flakes and olive oil. Stir so the flavors begin melding together. If you would like to add the lemongrass, for a subtle fascinating addition, do so now—peel the tough outer leaves and discard them, cut the lemongrass into two-inch pieces, crush them with the side of your knife and add to the dressing. Cover the dressing and set it aside. If you are starting this the night before, refrigerate. Before mixing the dressing into the salad, discard the lemongrass chunks.
- Prepare the cucumber. After washing it, score the sides lengthwise with the tines of a fork. Continue all around the cucumber. Then cut the cucumber into thin slices. This gives the cucumber coins a handsome flowery look.
- An hour before you intend to serve, put a platter in the refrigerator to chill it (see Kitchen Notes).
- Assemble the salad. First, slice the chicken into bite-sized fairly uniform pieces and place them in a bowl. In that same bowl, add the sliced bell pepper, cucumber coins, roasted cashews, about a cup of the crispy rice sticks if you are using them, the coconut flakes, almost all the coriander leaves, and the pickled ginger. Toss with your hands to make sure everything is evenly mixed. Once the solids are mixed together in the bowl, stream in the dressing and mix with a big spoon. Then take the chilled platter out of the fridge and make a bed of Mesclun on it. Heap the chicken salad attractively onto the lettuce leaves. Garnish with a few coriander leaves and serve.
- This is very nice with a crisp white wine, or, as Tropp would say: have it with a good cold beer.
Kitchen Notes
Toasting the coconut (insert your own joke here). Coconut shrinks dramatically when you toast it this way—I recommend cooking what well may be a bit too much, and measuring after you cook. Begin with about 1/3 cup of sweetened coconut from the package. Toast the flakes in a nonstick dry skillet over moderate heat. Toss and stir the flakes constantly until the coconut is golden. Watch carefully—if it blackens, throw it out and start anew. As soon as the coconut is golden, move it quickly from the pan into a bowl. When it has cooled, store in an airtight container.
Crispy rice sticks—a really fun option. Crispy rice sticks are made by deep frying Chinese rice stick pasta. The best part of crispy rice sticks is making them. Heat canola oil to 375ºF. Use a candy thermometer if you have one. Otherwise, to test, drop a fragment of uncooked rice stick in the oil. It will immediately puff and turn snowy white. Remove it from the heat using a slotted spoon or ladle (we like the Chinese open wire ladle with the bamboo handle for this job). To cook a batch, quickly drop a small handful of uncooked rice sticks into the oil—if the oil is at the proper temperature, the sticks puff up instantly and look like snowy white styrene wires. Scoop them out immediately and set them on paper towels to drain.
This is one of the funnest things you will ever make. On a day when you are glum and bored, this will cheer you up straightaway. Your biggest problem with making crispy rice sticks will be that you will find it hard to stop making them, it is just so amusing. The second-biggest problem is that once you’ve made them, they are not all that good for you, being deep fried and all, and also they don't taste like much of anything. That’s why I have relegated this to the Kitchen Notes gulag. I don’t think crispy rice sticks add to this recipe, but I had to tell you about them because they are so much fun to make. Once you have made them, store in an airtight container at the back of your pantry, out of sight, until you stumble upon them during some future cleaning frenzy, or the next time you move.
Pickled ginger—take your pick. The original recipe calls for China Moon Pickled Ginger, Tropp’s own recipe, found in the cookbook. At our house, of course, we go with the shortcut, and so we purchase commercially made Japanese pickled ginger. You can find both untinted, natural ginger and ginger that has been dyed red. For this dish, the red stuff is much cuter. The little red bits look nice in the salad, and the ginger juice gives the dressing a pink tint. It’s just nice.
Plate or platter? Up to you. Instead of serving from a single big platter, you may plate individually. If you go the platter route, chilling it ahead of time will help keep the salad crisp and fresh tasting.