Chopped Thai Chicken Salad

You know how you Pin tons of would be delicious meals on Pinterest and then eat the same old same old every night? No? Just me then? Well alrighty.

Tonight I broke tradition and made this delightful and satisfying Summer supper. The weather today was dark, grey, rainy and not as hot as it's been recently but with 200% humidity it doesn't matter. This colorful, bright, sweet, and spicy salad was just what we needed.

The recipe comes from a blogger named Lindsey who blogs at Pinch of Yum. Reading about her preparation of this dish makes me very thankful to live in a country where a good washing of my vegetables with good ole tap water is sufficient to keep bad things from happening to me and my family. She describes a process of having to bleach her fresh produce in order to consume it raw.   Blogger Lindsey was writing from the Philippines at the time. Head over and check her amazing pictures and please forgive mine.

Chopped Thai Chicken Salad

What you need: (From pinch of yum)

Salad

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 small head green or white cabbage (2 cups shredded)
• 1 large carrot (1½ cups shredded)
• 1 green papaya (1½ cups shredded)
• ½ cup fresh cilantro
• ½ cup green onions
• ½ cup chopped peanuts

Dressing

• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 bird's eye chili peppers (sub ½ teaspoon minced hot pepper) 
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons vinegar 
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon oil
• ½ teaspoon fish sauce
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• ¼ cup water

What To Do:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the chicken breasts, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes. When the chicken is done, remove from heat, drain water, let cool, and shred with two forks.
2. Chop the cabbage into very thin pieces, like it would be for coleslaw. I did this by rolling up several leaves together and making thin vertical slices across the roll and then chopping them once horizontally. Peel and grate the carrots. Cut off the skin, remove the seeds, and grate the papaya. Roughly chop the cilantro and green onions. Toss the chicken and vegetables in a large bowl and keep chilled.
3. Mince the garlic and chili peppers. Place garlic and peppers in a small mixing bowl with the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, lime juice, oil, and fish sauce. Whisk until smooth. Add the peanut butter and water and whisk again until smooth and creamy.
4. Toss the salad with the dressing. Add the crushed peanuts. Serve chilled. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to one day. For best results, keep the leftover salad and dressing separate until ready to serve.

Stephen and I ate our fill and there's plenty for lunch for the both of us tomorrow. The kids were not fans but we're working on them. The dressing has a kick but is not too spicy for your littles. I used 1/2  teaspoon of sriracha instead of the chili peppers and rice wine vinegar because I happened to have it on hand. I also love this method for poaching chicken. As long as you're doing the work you might as well get some stock out of it. While I'm thinking about it. Instead of 1/4 of water in the dressing you might use some of the delicious cooled stock you made from the poaching liquid. Another layer of flavor? I, also like the original post had the same issue finding an under ripe papaya. In fact, I stink at choosing tropical fruit. My papaya was so ripe I had to dice it rather than shred it. It turned to mush against my box grater. Some cool crispy cucumber would be a great substitution for the papaya. And for my cilantro hating friends this dish would be just as delish without it. 

Add this tasty dish to next week's meal plan and let me know how it goes!