Sandy Ho's Napa Cabbage Chicken Salad
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This is a dish that chef-creator Sandy Ho always likes to keep stocked in her fridge.
Bright, salty, funky and spicy, it’s a salad that runs the gamut and is worth roasting a chicken for, although it’s just as effective with a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
It’s also a recipe that’s flexible when it comes to greens; if Napa cabbage is difficult to source, savoy works just as well. Herbs can be mixed and matched to your preference and proportions, as can the number of Thai chiles for customizable heat.
“The way that I like to eat is really fresh food,” said the chef-owner of Sandita’s World, a boutique catering company. “That ties back to a lot of the constructs of a Vietnamese dish: There’s always something funky, something fresh, maybe something braised, and rice. That’s kind of where the ethos of it comes from for me.”
Ho serves this salad atop green congee in her cookbook “Sandita’s Cooking Notes Vol. 1,” but it’s delicious as a standalone salad as well.
Thinly slice Napa cabbage and add to a medium-size bowl. Add salt, mix and set aside for 3 minutes to release juices.
Squeeze out the excess juice from the cabbage and drain, then return the cabbage to the bowl.
Add the herbs, scallions, shredded chicken, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, vinegar and chiles. Use your hands to toss to combine. Serve immediately.
Eat your way across L.A.
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