Twelve ingredients and thirty minutes, ten of them cooking the chicken.
This recipe contains peanuts. They are a major component rather than a garnish, so it is worth saying plainly.
Why This Recipe Works
- Two cabbages and carrot give a slaw that stays crisp under a thin dressing.
- Cooling the chicken before pulling it keeps it from steaming the vegetables.
- A dressing with no oil stays light against a bulky chopped salad.
- Brown sugar balances the fish sauce so the dressing is not simply salty.
- Adding the peanuts last keeps them crunchy rather than soft.
Ingredient Notes
- Chopped roasted peanuts
- Half a cup, scattered at the end. A major component and a declarable allergen — this recipe contains peanuts.
- Green and purple cabbage with carrot
- Two cups, one cup and one cup. Together they are the bulk of the salad, and the title names none of them.
- Green chilli and red bell pepper
- One small chilli thinly sliced and half a red pepper. Both are visible in the finished plate.
- Fish sauce and lime juice
- A tablespoon and a half against two tablespoons. The fish sauce is the salt in this dressing.
How to Make It
Chicken to 165°F, cooled, then pulled
Cook the chicken until 165°F, cool slightly, and pull or chop it.
The amber dressing whisked
Whisk lime juice, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and brown sugar.
Everything but the peanuts combined
Combine both cabbages, carrot, bell pepper, green chilli, chicken, and coriander.
Tossed with the dressing
Toss with the amber dressing.
Peanuts scattered at the very end
Scatter the chopped peanuts over the salad just before serving.
Served cold, no authenticity claim
Serve cold and make no traditional or regional-authenticity claim.
A Dressing Built From Four Liquids and No Fat
What makes this salad its own dish is the combination of a CHOPPED CABBAGE base with PEANUTS scattered over - and a dressing that contains no oil at all.
- The acid, and the aroma2 tbsp lime juice
- The largest measure and the top note. Lime rather than lemon is doing aromatic work as much as sour work here - and a lime HALF sits beside the finished plate, so more can be squeezed over at the table.
- All of the salt1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
- There is no salt in this ingredient list. Every bit of seasoning in a salad holding four cups of raw cabbage comes from this one measure, which is why it is as large as it is relative to the lime.
- The counterweight1 tbsp brown sugar
- Against 1 1/2 tbsp of fish sauce and 3 tbsp of combined acid. Without it the dressing is sharp and salty and nothing else; with it the whole thing rounds out. This is the single ingredient doing the balancing.
- The softer acid underneath1 tbsp rice vinegar
- Milder and rounder than lime, and it lengthens the sourness rather than sharpening it. Two acids of different characters is what keeps a no-oil dressing from tasting thin.
The bulk is 2 cups shredded GREEN cabbage, 1 cup PURPLE cabbage, 1 cup CARROT matchsticks, 1/2 a red bell pepper and 1 small GREEN CHILLI - five vegetables the title names none of. 1 lb of chicken is cooked to 165F and COOLED SLIGHTLY BEFORE PULLING, which matters more than it sounds: hot shredded chicken dropped onto raw cabbage steams it limp. Then 1/2 cup of chopped ROASTED PEANUTS, and the timing is the whole instruction - they go on JUST BEFORE SERVING, because peanuts sitting in a wet dressing lose their crunch within minutes and crunch is the reason they are there. THIS RECIPE CONTAINS PEANUTS. A dressed cold salad is also held at 40F or below. And it is Thai-INSPIRED, not a traditional recipe.
Success Tips
- Cool the chicken before it meets the cabbage, or the slaw wilts.
- Keep the peanuts back until the plate is going to the table.
- Cut the cabbage finely and evenly so the dressing reaches all of it.
Serving Ideas
Four servings on white plates, the chopped cabbage, carrot, pepper and chilli with pulled chicken in the thin amber dressing, heavily scattered with chopped peanuts and coriander, with a lime half alongside.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this contain peanuts?
Yes. Half a cup of chopped roasted peanuts is a major component of this salad, not an optional garnish.
Why add the peanuts last?
So they stay crunchy. Peanuts tossed through a wet dressing soften within minutes.
How is this different from the cucumber salad here?
That one is thick cucumber rounds with fresh chilli, garlic and mint, and it carries no peanuts and no cabbage. This is a chopped cabbage slaw with peanuts and coriander.
