Goi Ga ~ Vietnamese Chicken Salad

 

Oh my never ending love affair with Vietnamese food. Its fresh, its healthy, it incorporates delicate flavors and textures. This salad is perfect for a hot summer day, or any day, every day. A great healthy salad for diet warriors like myself who want flavor and yumminess, but not the cellulite. 

I came across this recipe in some ratchet dodgy Easy Vietnamese Cookbook.... For example the recipe will call for "3 Spoons Rice Vinegars" and then leave the "3 spoons" completely out of the recipe. At any rate, I just so happened to have everything at home (for once)

 Goi Ga blends shredded chicken, cabbage, carrots, cilantro, mint, Vietnamese coriander, thinly sliced onions, crushed peanuts and fried shallots. Topped off with nuoc cham fish sauce oooh soo delish.

Weird Ingredients Warning :  

Rau Ram- AKA Vietnamese Coriander, Vietnamese Mint, Vietnamese Herb that you can't buy at Safeway. This herb has a lemony like sharp flavor which compliments cold chicken very well!

Nuoc Mam Cham: Stinky ass fish sauce boiled down with sugar and mixed garlic, lime, Thai chili's and vinegar. It takes some getting used to, but after the initial trauma of voluntarily putting this stuff in your mouth, your taste buds will forgive you. You can buy it already made, or you can try the one and only Nuoc Mam Sauce you'll ever need (link below)

Fried Shallots: These little addictive crunchies can be found at every Asian market in the Bay. Similar to French's Fried Onions that you only put in Green Bean Casserole, these are more delicate, and sweeter. For some reason they are expensive, and when you are shopping don't be confused, you will find most just say red onion on the labels...They're all Shallots I'm guessing. At any rate be careful when you open up this jar and try a few, because you will end up eating the whole thing and have none for the salad.  

GOI GA ~ Vietnamese Chicken Salad 

• 3 Chicken Thighs ~ Boiled and Shredded 
• 1 Bag Coleslaw Mix ~ Or you can shred a half head of cabbage and carrots but whose got time for that? 
•  1/2 Bunch Cilantro ~ The Mexican stuff- chopped sorta finely
•  5-6 Leaves of Rau Ram ~ The special trip to the Asian store stuff- sliced into strips
•  A Few Sprigs of Mint Leaves ~ The regular stuff - chopped however you prefer mint
•  1/2 Cup Fried Shallots ~ You may end up using more if you love them
•  1/3 Cup Roasted and Salted Peanuts~ Try not to eat them beforehand you'll spoil your appetite 
• Half a yellow or red onion  ~ Sliced thinly   
• Salt ~ Just a smidge. 
• Nuoc Cham  ~ Don't be scared 

First things first, slice onions very thinly, place in a bowl, cover with cold water and put in the fridge for about thirty minutes. This helps to suck out the strong oniony bite, but still keep the onion love alive.  
Second things second, boil the chicken thighs, allow to cool then shred them to your preference. I like them kinda thin but not to where they're so shredded there is chicken strings all over the salad. You don't want to go overboard putting too much chicken in this salad. Place chicken in refrigerator to get cold. 
After the laborious work is done (and you were washing as you were going right?) Take a big bowl and chuck in the coleslaw mix, followed by the drained cold drowned onions, then the herbals, then the chicken. After you have mixed, lightly sprinkle with salt to taste, mix again and top with fried shallots and peanuts. (put them on last or right when ready to serve or they both will get soggy and chewy)
 When ready to serve sprinkle on some Nuoc Cham and Enjoy! 
Just FYI This salad doesn't really keep for next day usage or meal prepping. But its still delish and you wont regret it!