Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Salad with Chilli Jam

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Salad with Chilli Jam

One of my all time favourite dishes is a South East Asian chicken salad. This is a great thing to do with left over chicken. You can use roast chicken or poached or even a supermarket rotisserie one. I never get tired of the easy fresh flavours. Add noodles & my kids love it. You can also use the left overs to make fresh spring rolls.

This chicken marinade is a cheats version of that used to make traditional Chinese roast chicken & duck, which takes several days if done authentically. The flavours add to the balance of flavours & add lovely spices.

This dish can be made with tofu, fish or other protein if you prefer. 

I have been making this dish for a long time. When the kids were little I would need to have chilli sauces to add as they wouldn't eat it yet.

I've been making chilli jam for this dish for around 15 yrs now. I make Annabel Langbein's one. It also goes well with cheese for crackers. While it does have a decent amount of sugar so not totally clean, you can leave it out & just use a chilli, fish sauce, lime juice dressing if you prefer & are concerned with reducing sugar. I just add a little & the rest of my diet is pretty sugar free.

 Chilli Jam

Recipe

Makes 2 cups

Clean & sterilise 2-3 glass jars with lids

Ingredients

6-8 chillis

zest of 2 limes

1 head of garlic

1 thumb size piece of ginger

3 kaffir lime leaves

½ cup rice wine vinegar

2 ½ cup sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

½ cup water

Method

Roughly chop; chillis, ginger, peel garlic, devine kaffir leaves the chop, add all to a food processor, & process to a paste.

All all the ingredients to a pot, slowly bring to the boil stirring until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for 10mins until a has reduced by 1 third.

Pour into sterilised jars, let cool then seal. Store in the fridge.

 

Chicken Salad

Roast Chicken

Take 1 organic chicken, marinate with 3 slices of ginger, 2 cloves of garlic crushed, 1 tsp gin, 4 tsp sesame oil, salt, pepper, 2 tsp five spice. Rub the cavity of the chicken with the marinade, cover the outside of the chicken also, but most is in the cavity. Leave to marinate for 30mins - 1 hr.

Preheat the oven to 170 degree C.

Place chicken in the oven to roast breast side down. Roast until juice runs clear, around 1 hr for a medium sized bird.

While the chicken is roasting prepare the salad.

Soak noodles if using. I find thin rice noodles or bean thread vermicelli best. Once the chicken is nearly ready cook the noodles, making sure not to over cook. Drain them & drizzle with a little sesame oil to stop them sticking, then set aside.

Finely slice julienned;

1 carrot

1 red onion

1 handful of snow peas

½ red capscium

⅓ cucumber

¼ cabbage

Add to a bowl with;

1 handful mung bean sprouts

1 handful of torn coriander

1 handful of Vietnamese mint (optional)

1 bunch finely chopped mint

zest of lime

Other options;

Radishes sliced

Daikon sliced finely

Bok choi sliced finely

Fresh chilli

Add shredded chicken, noodles, toasted sesame seeds & peanuts or cashews chopped.

Dressing

In a jar mix;

1 ⅓ fish sauce

1 ⅓ lime juice

1 ⅓ sesame oil

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

Shake well, check balance of flavours to suit your taste, drizzle over salad & serve with chilli jam. Traditional the dressing would have sugar, I omit this as using chilli jam.

Enjoy

 

I love to make fresh spring rolls with any leftovers.

Add leftovers making sure to get some of each; carrot, red onion, chicken, vegetables, coriander. Place on a piece of soaked rice paper, roll up.

            

Serve with a fish sauce, sesame oil, lime juice dressing, & or thinned hoisin dipping sauces with chilli jam.

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