Bang-bang chicken salad

Name: Bang-bang chicken salad
Yield: Makes a light lunch for 2 or a bigger lunch for 1
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1½ tablespoons Chinese black vinegar or other rice wine vinegar (preferably not white), plus extra for dressing the veg and chicken; 12 small fresh mint leaves; 2 spring onions, thinly sliced on a steep diagonal; 1 finger-length hot green chilli, finely sliced; 1 large skinless chicken breast; 2 large cloves of garlic, skin left on, split lengthways; 1 tablespoon dark runny honey or soft brown sugar (not muscovado); 8 black peppercorns; 2 teaspoons Japanese soy sauce; 2 medium carrots, peeled, then shaved into ribbons with a potato peeler; ⅓ large cucumber, peeled, seeds scooped out and medium diced; 1 teaspoon flaked sea salt; 2½ tablespoons toasted sesame oil; the juice from 1 large thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger that has been peeled and finely grated; 4 tablespoons smooth peanut butter; 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted; a good handful of fresh coriander leaves

Preparation info

Makes a light lunch for
2

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

What to Eat Next

By Valentine Warner

Published 2014

About

Quite often there is too much salad in a recipe like this one, which over-dilutes the fun sauce and makes for a boring plate. Never a fan of the Chinese beansprout, I’ve left them out where others put them in.

Ingredients

⅓ large cucumber, peeled, seeds scooped out and medium diced
1 teaspoon flaked sea salt
1 large

Asia
China
Lunch
Garnish
Main course

Method

Put the cucumber into a colander with the sea salt and leave to drip until the last minute.
Put the chicken breast, garlic cloves and peppercorns in as small a pan as the chicken will comfortably fit. Snug is good. Only just cover the chicken breast with cold water, then add the soy sauce. Bring to a simmer, then turn down to barely a wobble and cook the chicke