Vietnamese Chicken Salad

This post is for the Favorite Summer Recipes blog carnival on Mentoring Moments.

My absolute favorite thing to make and eat in the summer is Vietnamese Chicken Salad.  The friend who gave me this recipe says it is “woman-y”.  It certainly seems that way in my house, because I’m the only person who will touch it.

Which is just fine by me!

It calls for a few specialty ingredients.  Believe me, it will be worth it!  Sometimes my husband takes the boys out for a “boys night” and I enjoy preparing this yummy meal for myself.  It’s also great for “girls night” if you want to invite some friends over to share it with you!

If you are making this just for yourself, you may want to cut this recipe down to make a smaller portion.  In truth, this is more than a recipe; it is a meal in itself.  There are 3 components to it:  the chicken salad, the rice noodles and the matchstick vegetables.

Here are instructions for each part:

Chicken salad:
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2  cans (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp. minced ginger (I substitute about 1/8 tsp dried, ground ginger but fresh is probably tastiest!)
1 tsp. minced garlic

Boil the chicken in the chicken broth and shred the meat, reserving the broth.  Process the remaining ingredients in a food processor until smooth and mix with the chicken.  Chill in the refrigerator.

Rice Noodles:
reserved chicken broth

1 bag rice noodles from grocer’s Asian food section
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp peanut oil
2 Tbsp fresh mint leaves, diced

Cook the rice noodles in the leftover broth; drain noodles.  Mix together vinaigrette ingredients and add to the drained noodles.  Chill in the refrigerator.

Matchstick vegetables:
Serve Vietnamese Chicken Salad and Rice Noodles with matchstick vegetables.  Cut red onion, carrots, cucumber and red pepper into long thin strips.

Sometimes I can’t wait for the “chill in the refrigerator” step….I have to eat it right away.  But then I always put the leftovers in to chill and they are even better the second day.  And the third.

OK, I admit it.  I never halve the recipe.  I always make the full batch and then just eat it every day for lunch and dinner until it’s gone.  Yummy!