This Lime Poached Chicken Salad may seem like a complicated recipe, but it’s really simple to make and the chicken can be marinated and poached a day ahead. Tasting like a health tonic in a bowl, it’s a great salad to make after a trip to the farmers’ market.
Serves: 6
INGREDIENTS
MARINADE
– 5 cm piece fresh ginger
– 4 cloves garlic finely sliced
– 1 stalk lemongrass white part only, finely sliced
– Zest of two limes
– ½ cup fresh coriander roughly chopped
– 1 tspn chilli flakes
– 1 tspn sea salt
– 1 tblspn sesame oil
– 6 small boneless chicken breasts
POACHING LIQUID
– Juice of two limes
– 2 Kaffir lime leaves
– 2x 400ml cans coconut milk
– 400ml water
– 2 tblspns fish sauce
– 2 tblspns brown sugar
SALAD
– Approx 120g baby spinach leaves
– 1 cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced, cucumber halved lengthways and sliced, or 6 snack cucumbers, sliced
– 200g mung bean sprouts
– 1 cup fresh coriander roughly chopped
– 1 cup fresh mint roughly chopped
– 2 spring onions julienned
INSTRUCTIONS
Use a mortar and pestle or a food processor to make marinade ingredients into a paste.
Place chicken in a ceramic dish, cover with marinade and refrigerate until required. This can be done a day ahead to let flavours develop or, if pushed for time, just before poaching.
Mix together poaching liquid ingredients.
Place chicken and marinade ingredients in a large pot or frying pan with a lid. Pour poaching liquid over chicken.
Cover with the lid and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn heat off and leave to continue cooking in poaching liquid for 20 minutes. Do not lift the lid during this time!
Remove from heat and set aside until cool enough to chill. Remove the chicken and chill. Strain the poaching liquid into a jug and chill. This can be done a day ahead of time.
To make the salad, shred the chicken and toss with the salad ingredients. Drizzle with a little fragrant chilled poaching liquid and serve.
Reproduced with permission from Cook Simple by Sarah Bowman.Published by Penguin Group NZ. RRP $45.00. Copyright text © Sarah Bowman, 2013. Copyright photography © Stephen Goodenough, 2013 For more info on Sarah, visit her Facebook page.