Asian Chicken Salad

New Year, healthy eating, being good and all that jazz and I’ve turned back to what suits me best when it comes to eating well, and that’s the Paleo diet. Paleo die-hards can be very strict about this lifestyle but the general rule is to not eat dairy, grains, carbohydrates or sugar. I loosely follow this, mainly in that I try to cut carbs from my breakfast and dinner, but I don’t stress too much, life’s too short eh. On the hunt for interesting recipes to try I found this awesome one for Asian Chicken salad, made it and it was LUSH. Really easy and simple to make, a spot on mid week meal. Apologies for the crap photo, was too busy eating.

asian chicken salad

Asian Chicken Salad
Feeds two adults

Ingredients:

  • 2 Carrots, thinly shredded (I used my Spiralizer)
  • 1 Romaine lettuce, sliced into very thin strips (these usually come with two in a pack, I used both)
  • A Handful of chopped Coriander
  • 1 Tbs white sesame seeds
  • A handful of chopped cashews
  • 400g Chicken thighs or 1 rotisserie chicken, torn into shreds
  • 1 Tbs of Soy sauce (I use a low salt version)
  • 1 Tbs of White wine vinegar (I didn’t have this so used Apple Cider Vinegar)
  • 1.5 Tbs Ginger, finely chopped
  • 1.5 Tbs Olive oil
  • 1 Tbs Hoisin Sauce
  • 0.5 Tbs Toasted Sesame oil
  • 1 Tsp Spicy Chilli Sauce (I used Waitroses’ own Thai Hot Sauce)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 3 Spring Onions, chopped finely using the green and white parts

For the dressing:

  • In a small bowl or mug, mix the soy, vinegar, ginger, olive oil, hoisin, sesame and chili oil, salt and spring onions altogether then put to one side.
  • Heat a griddle pan, oil your chicken then add to the pan once ready (interesting fact, according to Nigella, when using a griddle pan, you oil the item you are cooking, not the pan to avoid it smoking, interesting fact over) I like my chicken nice and browned, so sear it well on both sides. I fry the chicken whole, then chop up half-way through cooking and give it a final blast, making sure it’s cooked through and nice and crispy. (if you use rotisserie chicken, skip this bit)
  • Whilst that’s going on, chop the ends off the lettuce (you don’t want the hard end bits) then cut into thin strips and put into a large salad bowl (or as the original recipe I found suggested, you stick everything into a large bag and give it a good shake at the end)
  • Cut your carrot into thin strips however you want (I used my Spiralizer) and add to the bowl with the lettuce.
  • Roughly chop the Corriander and add this to the bowl, along with the sesame seeds and cashews. Keeping back a small amount of coriander and cashews.
  • Give the dressing a good stir then pour this over everything in the bowl.
  • Once the chicken is done, add that to the bowl and give everything a good mix. Finish with the left over coriander and cashews, and serve at the table 🙂

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