Culture

This colourful, crunchy and tangy salad is of Vietnamese inspiration. A piquant dressing coats finely sliced vegetables, poached chicken (if you so wish), honey-roasted peanuts and fresh mint. You can substitute the lemons for limes for a more authentic flavour, though they will set you back a few more dollars. Preparation can be done in advance – if so just pour the dressing over immediately before serving.

Ingredients

• For the salad
• 1/2 a red cabbage, finely sliced
• 1/2 a green cabbage, finely sliced
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
• 1 telegraph cucumber, peeled,de-seeded and sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup of honey-roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
• 2 large handfuls of fresh mint, chopped
• 500g chicken breast, poached and shredded (optional)

For the dressing

• Juice and zest of 2 lemons
• Fish sauce
• 1 TBS white sugar
• A thumb sized piece of ginger root, grated

Method

1. After peeling, slice the carrots in half across their width, and then lengthways. Slice into thin lengths, and then slice these in half lengthways again. They don’t need to be as small as matchsticks, but the thinner the better.
2. Treat the cucumber the same as the carrots, but before slicing, cut a v-shaped cavity along the length to lift the seeds out. Slice the cucumber thinly.
3. You can toss the vegetables together, or pile them separately in a wide serving bowl with the cabbage as a bed, followed by the carrots then cucumber.
4. If you choose to add chicken, choose chicken breasts roughly the same width. If some are particularly thick (i.e. more than the width of three fingers) you may wish to slice them lengthways. Place the chicken in a wide saucepan in a single layer and top with water so it is covered entirely. I usually add a few dried chillies, a small piece of fresh ginger root and 1-2 teaspoons of chicken stock to this liquid to flavour the chicken as it cooks. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to very low to maintain a very gentle simmer. Cook for about 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Drain off the liquid, and rip into shreds like a hungry caveman. Add to the cabbage, carrots and cucumber.
5. To make the dressing, combine the lemon juice and zest, fish sauce, sugar and ginger. I usually add the fish sauce drop by drop, tasting as I go until the sourness of the lemon is offset by the saltiness of the fish sauce. Depending on your tastebuds, you might want anything from 1/2 tsp to 2 teaspoons of fish sauce. Don’t be repulsed by the scent as it’s the crucial ingredient to the salad and once combined with the rainbow-like assortment of vegetables and mint, it really shines. Pour the dressing evenly over the salad, sprinkle over the mint and peanuts, and devour.

This will serve five people at a cost of about $24 with chicken, or $16 without.