My version of this salad is basically of a replica of one I had at my favourite hidden gem of a restaurant in Durham, Finbarr’s. It’s one of the best salads in the world – honestly, try it.
A quick and tasty salad that fills you up and packs a lot of flavour
Ordinarily you shred poached chicken breast for this dish because its lean and quick, but if you only have chicken legs or thighs I figured you might as well bake the dark meat and shred it instead. Also it’s double-y flavourful from the baked marinade and then the dressing.
Bang bang dressing is easy because it’s all store-cupboard ingredients – peanut butter, chilli flakes, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil. I just discovered walnut oil, too, which is nice and light and good for oriental food without being as intense as sesame, so it’s good to use to thin out the dressing.
Vegetable-wise, I like to blanch the carrots so you can actually get them on your fork, or just microwave them for a minute. Spring onions make this, so don’t uses anything else. If I’d have added anything else it’d probably been some chopped, toasted peanuts or cashews the way The Alchemist does it. Filling salads are the best, and this is a main meal not a BBQ garnish.
See the next page for the recipe, or, for more delicious recipe ideas, check out Shini’s blog, The Introverted Chilli.
To serve two as a main course:
– 2 skinless chicken legs and thighs
– 2 carrots
– 1 cucumber
– small bunch spring onions
– 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
For the chicken marinade:
– 2 tbsp hot sauce (I use Maggi chilli sauce)
– 1 tbsp soy sauce
– 1 tbsp ketchup
For the dressing:
– 4 tbsp peanut butter
– 1 tsp sesame oil
– 3 tbsp walnut oil
– 1 tbsp honey
– 2 tbsp soy sauce
– 1 tsp chilli flakes
1. Marinate your chicken for an hour before baking for 40 minutes at 200°C fan.
2. Chop the carrots and cucumber into batons of the same size, microwave or blanch your carrots for a couple of minutes. Thinly slice your spring onion.
3. Beat your dressing ingredients together until they reach a soft-dropping consistency like cake mix.
4. Shred the chicken with two forks and assemble your salad with the chopped vegetables and dressing and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.