Here’s a surprisingly good recipe from Bon Appetit. The reason I say it’s surprisingly good because my experience with salads such as these has generally been underwhelming. This, however, is a really good recipe. It’s hard for food to not be good when coconut milk is involved.
This recipe makes 4 – 6 servings, so adjust amounts according to your needs.
What you’ll need
- 1 cup of coconut milk, well shaken
- 4.5T lime juice (fresh is always preferable)
- 2T grated palm sugar or light brown sugar
- 1T + 0.75t kosher salt, divided
- 1T grated fresh ginger
- 2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 3T creamy peanut butter
- 1.5T sambal oelek
- 8 cups shredded green cabbage (I suppose you could use chopped, sturdy, flavorful lettuce, too)
- 1 cup carrots, cut into matchsticks
- 1 cup chopped fresh herbs, such as cilantro and basil, plus a little more for garnishing
- 1 cup roughly chopped lightly-salted peanuts
- 0.5 cups toasted unsweetened coconut flakes
What to do
This recipe can basically be broken out into three sub-recipes: 1) marinading and cooking the chicken, 2) making the salad dressing, and 3) assembling the salad.
Make the chicken marinade by whisking together 0.5 cups coconut milk, 2T lime juice, the palm sugar, 1T salt and 2t of the grated ginger. Pour the marinade into a 1-gallon sealable freezer bag. Add the chicken and seal up the bag, pushing out as much air as possible when sealing. Ensure each piece of chicken is coated. Marinade the chicken in the refrigerator for 1 – 5 hours.
While the chicken is marinading, you can prepare the salad and the dressing.
Whisk together the peanut butter, sambal oelek, the remaining 0.5 cups of coconut milk, the remaining 2.5T lime juice, the 0.75t of salt and the remaining 1t of ginger. After everything is well blended, pour the dressing into a large bowl, reserving about 0.5 cups for topping the salad before serving.
If your salad ingredients are all prepped and the chicken has been marinaded, it’s time to cook the chicken and assemble and serve the salad.
To cook the chicken, heat a grill or grill pan to 400 degrees F. While it’s heating up, remove the chicken thighs from the marinade and put them on a plate. Do not save and re-use the remaining marinade. Then the grill or grill pan are up to temperature, oil the grates with an oil-soaked paper towel held with tongs. Grill the chicken, flipping it once, until it reaches 165 degrees F internally. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and let it cool before cutting it into strips.
Now you’re ready to assemble and serve. Add the cabbage, carrots, chopped herbs, peanuts and toasted coconut flakes to the large bowl with the dressing in it and toss until the dressing is equally distributed throughout the vegetables.
Using tongs, transfer the cabbage mixture to serving plates, topping each salad with a sliced chicken thigh. Drizzle each salad with the remaining dressing and top with remaining chopped herbs.
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