Burmese Chicken Salad
Burmese salads are perfect for the free spirit because they allow you to pick what goes in your salad to the very detail. The sky is your limit and your taste buds are the best judge. Even something as simple as chicken salad gives you the freedom to make choices from wonderful array of components.
Start with the basics and subtle flavors then tweak to your personal taste till you find the zing. Add a pinch of this, a dash of that, few drops of these, few grinds of those. You can be playful but be smart with shapes and sizes you cut your ingredients into because texture dictates the timing they release their flavors and integrate with others.
Whenever shopping for chicken, I always get them bone-in and skin-on because, first, this is how I grew up knowing as the only way to buy chicken, second, it's wallet-friendly and last, skins and bones carry lots of flavors. In this recipe, you can use the meat as a salad base, skins for garlic oil and bones as a broth for palate-cleansing soup!
Choose the fatty dark meat because you don’t want the star of the dish itself to be dry and lifeless. For vegetables, opt for unique texture and flavor contrast so that they do not dominate but enhance and compliment each other. A good crisp from cucumber, notes of freshness from cilantro, a burst of sweetness from tomato, pleasantly sharp bites of shallots and a kick of heat from fresh chilies, all together will ensure that this salad has cast a full ensemble of superstar ingredients.
Now, to elevate just a pile of chicken and greens on a plate into a blockbuster chicken salad, you need right proportions of fat, salt and acid in a form of dressing. This is when garlic oil, fish sauce and lime juice come into light. Garlic oil lends toastiness and fragrance. Pungent fish sauce gives a jolt of umami flavor. And, the lime acts as a bright balance to the fat and the salt.
Both light and vibrant, instead of making your heart skip a beat, this will make it feel warm and cared for.
