Spring

Chicken and Rice Salad with Poached Radishes and Nuoc Cham

March 15, 2016
3.8
4 Ratings
Photo by Bobbi Lin
  • Serves 2
Author Notes

Leftover chicken and rice never looked so nice. —Ali Slagle

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the nuoc cham
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon lime zest
  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1 garlic clove, sliced
  • 2 red or green Thai chiles, halved lengthwise, and sliced into half moons
  • For the salad
  • 1 bunch radishes (about 12), cleaned, trimmed, and cut in quarters (or half if they're tiny)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded chicken (sometimes I buy a rotisserie chicken for this very purpose)
  • 1 cup cooked long-grain brown rice
  • 2 cups watercress, baby kale, or other spicy green
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro leaves and stems
Directions
  1. To make the nuoc cham, in a jar, mix the sugar, fish sauce, lime zest, and lime juice with a fork or whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the garlic and chilies and a few grinds of black pepper, and let everything hang out for around 30 minutes (you can eat the nuoc cham immediately, but the flavors won't be as good of friends yet). Taste and adjust if necessary (if it's too puckery, add more sugar). This keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
  2. To make the salad, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the radishes, cut side down, and a pinch of salt, and sauté for 10 minutes, until they're tender and slightly browned. Turn off the heat.
  3. Lay out the spicy greens on a serving platter or in a bowl.
  4. Add 3 tablespoons nuoc chom to the skillet and stir to coat the radishes. Then add the chicken and brown rice and stir to combine. Immediately transfer it to the platter of greens, drizzling all the nuoc chom over the greens..
  5. Toss gently just to coat the leaves. If you need more dressing, add more. Sprinkle over the cilantro leaves and stems and serve.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • btglenn
    btglenn
  • Noelle Destries
    Noelle Destries

2 Reviews

btglenn June 8, 2016
I use daikon radish either cut into thin rounds or julienned on a box grater as a replacement for red radishes. Milder and juicier than the red radish, the daikon, which looks like a white giant carrot, is a standard ingredient in Asian cuisine. It can be found in the vegetable section of many super markets.
 
Noelle D. April 5, 2016
This is a fantastic recipe - will be in the rotation. thank you!