Vietnamese Zucchini Chicken Salad

I love salad.  The Vietnamese cuisine has many interesting recipes for salads. Most of them are made with fruits, such as mango, pomelo, watermelon and vegetables like green beans, kohlrabi, and winter squash. I am quite surprised that zucchini is not in the list of healthy Vietnamese salads. For that, I feel compelled to create this summer healthy recipe using the chicken and zucchini. Do not be discouraged by the long list of the ingredients because all of them are easy to find. The spiral pasta machine makes this salad look wonderful, but just wait until serving this salad to friends, it will receive many oohs and ahs.

Ingredients:
Salad ingredients:
1/2 lb. zucchini or about 2 zucchini
1/2 English cucumber, julienned
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
Chicken ingredients:
1/2 lb. chicken breasts and thighs
2 inches ginger, peeled and sliced
1/2 white onion, peeled
1 shallot, peeled
2 green onions, cut into 3 inch lengths
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chicken seasoning
4 cups water
Dressing ingredients:
1/2 cup Vietnamese dipping sauce*
1 tbs white rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 shallot, minced
1 tbs salad oil
1 tbs lime juice
1 or 2 Thai hot chilies, sliced
Garnishes:
1/2 cup fresh basil, julienned
1/4 cup roasted chopped peanuts and sesame seeds

Directions:
Cut of the ends off the zucchini and cut zucchini in half or challenge yourself to cut whole zucchini.

 Use a spiral pasta machine to shred zucchini.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add 1 tsp salt and 1 tbs peanut oil. Drop the zucchini into hot boiling water in 1 minute.

Quickly drain zucchini in cold ice water to stop the cooking. Drain the zucchini in a sieve. Use some paper towels to help dry most of water. Combine zucchini and cucumber in a bowl and place in the refrigerator while making the other parts of the salad.

Making the chicken portion:
Place ginger, onion, and shallot into a baking dish and bake in a preheated oven set to 350° for 20 minutes.

In a small soup pot, add 4 cups of water. Add baked onion, ginger, shallot, green onions, salt, and chicken seasoning.

Bring to boil. Add chicken, and bring back to boil. Skim off any residue floating to the surface.

Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Then cover the pot. Turn off the heat and let chicken cook for 20 minutes more in a hot broth.
Remove chicken from the hot broth. Place chicken in cold water to prevent chicken from loosing color.

When chicken cools, tear chicken into pieces with your hands and set aside.
In a small bowl, add 1/4 cup vinegar, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp sugar and 1/8 tsp black pepper. Whisk well and add red onions. Let onions soak in vinegar for 30 minutes then squeeze out the vinegar.

To make dressing:
Combine the dressing ingredients in a jar with lid and shake well.

To serve:
On a serving plate, place the zucchini and cucumber combination and top with chicken and red onions. Pour dressing on top. Sprinkle with roasted peanuts,sesame seeds, and julienned basil. Serve more dressing on the side.

 

To make Vietnamese dipping sauce:
2 cups hot water
1/2 cup  fish sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/ tsp salt
1/4 cup vinegar
Combine well all ingredients in a glass jar with lid. Refrigerate for other Vietnamese salad recipes or making a dipping sauce for egg rolls, spring rolls, etc. This sauce will keep long in the refrigerator.