Oriental Chicken Salad

This is a full-meal salad that uses poached chicken as the anchor, not grilled or roasted. Simmering a whole bird with gingerroot tucked under the skin gives you double the reward: unbelievably tender meat AND a rich, aromatic broth that gets put to work blanching the vegetables.

Tucking sliced ginger into slits in the skin perfumes the chicken from the inside as it cooks. It’s a gentler flavor than tossing ginger in the water.

Blanching celery and carrots in the chicken broth (not plain water) picks up chicken-ginger flavor in every slice. Shock them in cold water immediately after or they’ll keep cooking and turn floppy.

Rice noodles need nothing more than a package-direction soak or brief boil, then a good drain. Overcooked rice noodles turn to paste.

The dressing is a simple soy-lime-garlic-oil combination that lets the chicken and vegetables stay front and center. It goes on just before serving so the noodles don’t absorb it all.

Kitchen Tips

• Save the poaching broth. Strain and freeze for soup or cooking rice; it’s too good to pour down the drain.
• Use tamari instead of soy sauce for a gluten-free version. The flavor is nearly identical but slightly richer.
• Shred the chicken with two forks for a more rustic look, or dice it for cleaner spoonfuls.
• Let the assembled salad chill 30 minutes before serving. Cold brings out the crunch and the lime.

Variations

• Add toasted sesame oil (½ teaspoon) to the dressing for deeper nutty notes.
• Toss in shredded Napa cabbage or bok choy for a fuller vegetable mix.
• Top with chopped peanuts or fried shallots for texture and crunch.