Bang Bang Chicken Salad
Bang Bang Chicken Salad. An amazing, cold Sichuan chicken salad dish. This is the traditional Sichuan version of the bang bang salad - accept no imitations.
Ingredients
- 2 Chicken breasts Bring to room temperature before cooking
- 1 inch Fresh Ginger Thickly sliced
- 5 Spring onions
- 2 Carrots
- 1/2 Cucumber
- 1/4 Iceberg Lettuce
- 3 Small dried red chillies
- 3 tbsp Peanuts
- 1 tsp Sichaun Peppercorns
For the dressing
- 3 tbsp Chinese Sesame Paste You can use peanut butter as a substitute here, but really try and get the sesame paste for the best flavour. Tahini might sound similar but won't taste the same.
- 2-3 tbsp Chicken stock
- 5 tbsp Sichuan Chilli Oil with sediment
- 1 Garlic clove Crushed
- 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns, whole These are an essential ingredient - don't substitute
- 4 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar Also known as Chinese black vinegar
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 2 tsp Sesame oil
- 1 tbsp Sesame seeds
Instructions
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the sliced ginger. Bash one of the spring onions with the side of a knife to bruise it and add this to the water along with the dried chillies and chicken breasts. Turn down the heat until it is barely simmering and poach the chicken for 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Remove and place into a bowl of cold water to cool down.
- Meanwhile, make the dressing. Add the sesame paste to a large mixing bowl and gradually add the chicken stock until you have the consistency of double cream. Toast the Sichuan Peppercorns in a dry frying pan over a medium high heat for a couple of minutes. Grind to a powder using a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Toast the sesame seeds until golden brown in a dry pan over a medium high heat. Add the ground peppercorns and sesame seeds to the sesame paste mix. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Taste and adjust to your liking - you might want to add a little more soy sauce if you want it saltier, a little more vinegar for extra sharpness or a touch more sugar for more sweetness.
- Next prepare the salad. This salad tastes best when the spring onion, carrot and cucumber are sliced really thinly and in even sized pieces. Slice the cucumber into thin slices on an angle. Cut each slice into thin matchsticks. Slice the carrots and spring onions into same sized slices. Thinly shred the lettuce. Put a pile of each salad item on to a plate.
- Now for the 'bang bang' element of this dish. When the chicken breasts are cool, place them on a chopping board. Use a rolling pin to bash the chicken, which will shred it into thin slivers. Alternatively, use two forks to shred each chicken breast.
- Add the shredded chicken to the bowl with the dressing and toss to combine.
- Toast the peanuts and a teaspoon of Sichuan peppercorns in a dry pan over a medium high heat. Using a pestle and mortar, bash the peanuts and peppercorns to combine into a crumble like mix.
- Top the salads with the shredded chicken and then the Sichuan peppercorn peanuts. Drizzle over any remaining dressing and serve.
