Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Cook Time 25 mins

Servings 4

Ingredients

½ cup white vinegar
½ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce (more to taste if necessary)
1 small red chilli, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
½ packet dried vermicelli noodles
1/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil
4 small or 3 large chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of fat and cut into thin strips
2 Lebanese cucumber, sliced with a peeler
12 green beans, sliced thinly on the diagonal
½ bunch mint leaves, roughly chopped
½ bunch coriander leaves
2 tablespoons crispy fried garlic (or crispy fried shallots if garlic isn’t available)

Method

In a pot over high heat, place the vinegar and sugar with ¼ cup water.   Bring to the boil and boil for about 3 minutes until starting to thicken.  Remove from the pot to a bowl, and add the fish sauce, chilli and garlic. Leave to cool.

Pour boiling water over the noodles and leave to stand for two minutes.  Drain and set aside to cool.

In a frypan over medium-high heat, toast the peanuts until golden with some little blackened bits.  Remove from the pan.  Add the oil to the pan and stir-fry the chicken until golden and cooked through.  Remove from the pan.  

In a bowl mix the Lebanese cucumber, green beans, noodles, and most of the mint and coriander leaves.  Toss with a little of the fish sauce dressing.  Place the salad in a bowl and top with the chicken, fried garlic and peanuts.  Drizzle a little more dressing over and top with some extra coriander and mint leaves.  Serve immediately.