Asian Slaw

We were asked to bring a dish to a party last evening. We knew that there would be bbq at the party, so figured that some kind of a slaw would be a good dish to bring. Enter an Asian version inspired by my go to team at Serious Eats.

Note this takes well over an hour to make, but it is pretty low involvement

Ingredients - Dressing

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

2T Soy sauce

1t toasted sesame oil (or chili sesame oil if you have it. If so reduce the amount of the following)

Some form of hot sauce - preferably one without vinegar. we used "Srirarcha" and habanero vodka.

2 cloves garlic (squished into a paste with a little salt)

2T freshly grated ginger

3T smooth, plain peanut butter (unsweetened)

Method - Dressing

If you measure the oil first and then use the same measuring cup for the honey, the honey flows out more easily. 

Whisk the oil, honey, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and spicy ingredients together. Stir in the garlic and ginger. Finally combine the peanut butter and stir/whisk until incorporated. Leave to stand for up to an hour to incorporate the flavors. Note that there is little salt in the dressing. The soy sauce provides some salt. The cabbage is salted in the next step. There is enough residual salt so it is not necessary to salt the dressing. The small amount of salt added to the garlic is to help with the making of the paste. So when you taste the dressing by itself,  it may seem under seasoned.

Ingredients - Slaw

1 head of green cabbage (about 2lbs) shredded

2T kosher salt

3 large, older carrots peeled and grated on the large holes of a box grater

3 scallions white and light green parts sliced on the bias

1 red pepper cut into small dice

2 or 3 hot chiles (we used cayenne peppers) chopped very finely) (if desired)

8 oz packet of edamame cooked and chilled

4 oz roasted salted peanuts chopped roughly

Method - Slaw

Lay the cabbage in a strainer or colander and sprinkle with the kosher salt. This will draw out some of the water and keep the cabbage crisp. Leave this for about an hour to drain. Roll the drained cabbage in a kitchen towel and squeeze the water out. This may end up with 1/2 to 1 cup of water.

Combine the slaw ingredients (except the peanuts) in a large bowl. Add the dressing in 3 additions, mixing the slaw after each addition. This ensures that the coating will be even - no pockets of undressed cabbage.

Add the peanuts and mix the slaw for the last time.

Chill and serve within a couple of hours after mixing.

Two ways with the same chicken

I have a "proper job" now - meaning that I don't work from my home office everyday. The commute time cuts into my cooking time, so I have to get a bit creative with dishes - just like the majority of people.
Soaking chicken breasts for about 15 minutes in a dilute baking soda solution helps to relax the proteins and leaves the meat a bit more tender, covering with a light dusting of cornstarch helps the chicken to brown - even in a non stick pan.
So, since Madame wanted a chicken salad (I could tell from hints like, "I bought these grapes at the supermarket today, they would be really good in chicken salad" were clues. But I also wanted to try a stir fried preparation with lots aromatics and a thick Asian flavors inspired sauce.
Yeah, I know Asia is a large continent(!), so there is not a single style. These flavors were sweet/sour/hot using dark soy sauce, US "srirarcha", fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, dark sesame oil, scallions, celery, red peppers. Note the chicken itself is unseasoned. There's plenty to come in the sauce.
It turns out you can do these simultaneously - well kind of. A lot of the prep is in common at least. I cooked the chicken for both dishes before adding the ingredients for the Asian flavored version

Asian style chicken

Ingredients

2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts sliced into 1/4" strips
3 cups water
1 t baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
3T cornstartch (corn flower) (divided use)
2T vegetable oil, divided use
2 ribs celery sliced lengthwise into three strips each, cut into 1/4" pieces on the bias
10 scallions, white parts only cut into 1/4" pieces on the bias (reserve green parts)
6 cloves garlic sliced thinly
1T fish sauce
3T dark soy sauce
1T Palm sugar
zest and juice of 1 lime
2T habanero vodka (or substitute dry sherry + minced hot pepper)
3T "srirarcha" - the brand with the chicken on the outside
1t dark sesame oil

Method

1. Soak the chicken in the baking soda/water solution for 15 minutes
2. Rinse, drain and pat the chicken dry
3. Coat the chicken lightly in 1T cornstarch
4. Make the sauce by combining the last 7 ingredients + 2 remaining T of cornstarch and set aside.
5. Heat 1 T of oil until wisps of smoke are visible in a large non-stick skillet. Place the chicken in a single layer in the hot skillet, leaving undisturbed for a minute or 2 until the outside is nicely browned. Turn the chicken over and repeat the cooking. Take care not to overcook, but do make sure the chicken pieces are cooked thoroughly.
6. Remove the chicken to a bowl, wipe the skillet and add the rest of the oil
7. Stir fry the aromatics all together. The sizes should insure even cooking. There should be a slight char on the scallions
8. Add the reserved chicken back into the skillet, combine, whisk the sauce and add to the chicken/vegetables.
9. Bring to the boil to allow the corn starch to thicken
10. Serve garnished with thinly sliced scallion green parts.

Suggestions

This dish could use some crunch, so feel free to add in peanuts, cashews, water chestnuts or other crunchy, mildly flavored items.
Serve with white or brown rice. It goes well with a light East Asian beer (Singha, Tiger, etc.)

Chicken Salad

This dish used the same chicken cooking technique as above. The difference is that the chicken pieces need to be cut a bit smaller.

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced into 1/4" strips and then each strip into 1/2" lengths
3 cups water
1t baking soda
1T vegetable oil
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise (if using home made, you will reduce the vinegar in the next ingredient)
1T sherry vinegar
hot sauce - to taste
salt/pepper - to taste
1/2 red paper, finely diced
1 rib celery finely diced
12 cherry tomatoes, halved (good trick for halving the tomatoes, etc. here)
12 grapes, halved
12 walnut or pecan halves

Method

1. Prepare the chicken as above
2. Meanwhile make the dressing by whisking the sour cream, mayonnaise, vinegar, hot sauce, salt, pepper
3. Combine the raw vegetables, grapes and nuts with the dressing
4. After the chicken has cooled, stir it into the dressed vegetables
5. Chill before serving - as an open faced sandwich on toasted home made bread

I had planned to use the wok in the big green egg for this, but the egg/charcoal would not co-operate. I couldn't get it hot enough in the time I had available. It was a shame really, because once the dishes were made, the egg had finally got up to temperature. So, I treated the exercise as a "clean burn" vaporizing any debris left over from brisket smoking and other dirty cooking jobs.