Vietnamese Style Chicken Salad (Another way to deal with your leftover roast)

It’s that kind of season again that we tend to buy more than we can eat. If you have leftover chicken or turkey and you don’t want to do pot pies because it is too hot, then you can do this Vietnamese salad. You can have it as a light meal or a side – if it’s for a side, you can omit rice noodles.

For 2, you will need:

For the salad
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1 carrot, grated
1 cup cooked rice noodles
1 cup roast chicken or turkey, sliced or shredded
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

For the dressing
2 tablespoons fish sauce
A bit of salt
1 tablespoon lime/lemon juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
½ red chilli, chopped (remove seeds if you cannot handle the heat)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves
A dash of oil (I use canola but you can also use peanut oil)

Salad
Soak noodles in water until soft then drain. Pour boiling water over the noodles, cover and stand for 5 to 10 minutes before draining. Cover with cold water so they stop cooking – this also prevents them sticking. Drain and cut into manageable length. Layer the ingredients except pine nuts into the bowl. Add salad dressing and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts

Dressing
Mix all the ingredients except coriander leaves in a jar and shake to combine. Taste and add more seasoning id needed. Refrigerate until use. Add coriander leaves before pouring on to salad.