Chicken and Cabbage Salad Asian Style

In our review of the Bon Appeitit magazine May issue we mentioned a few recipes we would add to our ‘need to try list’.  The Asian Chicken Cabbage salad was one of those recipes. It looked very healthy with all those bright colors and was sure to bring some crunch. Clearly this was going to be a lot of chopping to get the cabbage salad all pulled together. It was time to employ the ever useful Cusinart 11 cup food processor with shredder attachments. That saved a considerable amount of time and provided a nice even shred. We also purchased a roast chicken at the local grocer and shred the chicken manually to save some preparation time. From the original recipe, we adjusted the fish sauce amount and added a touch of honey instead of some of the original brown sugar.

Plates served and everyone hungry for dinner we all put fork to plate. Hmm…let me take another taste.  This was not a throw away recipe but few at the table look around with ‘wow’ smiles. I think most that eat healthy recipes that include a lot of raw cabbage would enjoy this recipe.  Overall the recipe came out as advertised with a lot of crunch. Were it seemed to be lacking was some flavor and the texture was coarse.  It could be the Canadian upbringing in me but I think this needed some vinegar.  Perhaps next time I would add a tablespoon of red wine vinegar.  The spice from the pepper settled in very nicely with the balance of the other flavors.  We saved some to try the next day to see if the flavors and textures improved.  Not a whole lot of change but it could be the texture was just a little over the top.  Try it and tell us your thoughts.  One reviewer said “I thought it was just okay. I would not make it again.”  This sort of sums up our feelings.

Recipe – Chicken and Cabbage Salad (Asian Style)

Ingredients

• 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange blossom honey
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon grated peeled ginger
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 small head of red cabbage, thinly sliced (about 5 cups)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled, shredded
• 6 scallions, whites and pale greens only, thinly sliced
• 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1 cup baby spinach, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
• chow mein noodles (optional garnish)

Method

Adapted from the original  Asian Chicken Cabbage Salad featured in the Bon Appetit May issue that can be found here.

Food Preparation Equipment used with this recipe