Vietnamese Chicken Salad (Goi Ga)
Shredded poached chicken, crunchy cabbage, mint, lime-fish-sauce dressing and peanuts.
Maui's an app that plans a whole week of dinners like this one. See how it works ↓
Soaking sliced shallot in cold water 10 min strips the harsh allium burn but keeps the crunch - non-negotiable for a salad this raw. Same trick works for red onion in any salad.
Ingredients
Everything below makes 4 servings.
- 1¼ lbboneless skinless chicken breast
- ½ headgreen cabbagevery thinly shredded
- 2 mediumcarrotsjulienned
- 1 largeshallotvery thinly sliced
- ½ cupfresh mintleaves, roughly torn
- ¼ cupThai basilleaves, torn
- ½ cupfresh cilantroleaves and tender stems
- 2scallionsthinly sliced
- 3 tbspfish sauce
- 1 tbsprice vinegar
- 2limejuiced
- 2 tbspgranulated sugar
- 2garlic clovesminced
- 1Thai chiliminced
- ⅓ cuproasted peanutsroughly chopped (garnish)
- 2 tbspfried shallots (store-bought)
- ½ tspkosher salt
In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.
Nutrition
Per serving, as written.
- 360calories
- 32gprotein
- 22gcarbs
- 14gfat
Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.
Instructions
Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.
- Shred cabbage paper-thin (a mandoline helps); julienne carrots.
- Very thinly slice shallot; soak in cold water 10 min to mellow.
- Tear mint and basil leaves; chop cilantro and scallions.
- Chop peanuts; juice limes; mince garlic and chili.
Poach chicken
Cover chicken breasts with cold water in a pot, add salt. Bring to a bare simmer (do not boil). Cook 15 min until 165°F. Lift out, cool 5 min, then shred by hand into bite-size pieces.
20 min · hands offMake dressing
In a small bowl, whisk fish sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, sugar, minced garlic, Thai chili, and 2 tbsp water until sugar dissolves. Taste - should hit sweet, salty, sour, spicy all at once.
2 min · hands onToss salad
Drain the soaked shallots. In the large mixing bowl combine shredded cabbage, carrots, shallots, shredded chicken, mint, basil, cilantro, and scallions. Pour the dressing over and toss aggressively with your hands for 30 seconds - you want it bruised slightly so the cabbage takes the flavor.
1 min · hands onPlate
Pile salad onto plates. Top with chopped peanuts and crispy fried shallots. Serve right away - cabbage softens within 15 minutes.
1 min · hands onMake it yours
Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.
Use bone-in thighs; poach 25 min instead of 15. Adds about 5 minutes.
Poach shrimp 2 min instead of chicken; halve lengthwise. Saves about 10 minutes.
Skip poaching; press tofu 10 min, slice, sear 4 min per side.
Steam rice during chicken poach. Adds about 20 minutes.
What keeps
Cooked chicken and shredded cabbage hold separately 3 days. Dress only what you'll eat - cabbage weeps water and herbs go limp within an hour of dressing.
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