Vietnamese shredded chicken salad (Goi Ga Xe Phay)

In Vietnam, we have a very special kind of chicken, which is raised naturally and so the meat is tender, but not tough, especially for the chicken breast. Those Vietnamese chickens (called Gà di (small kind of chicken) or gà đi bộ (walking chicken)), are small with the weight of only about more than 1 kg each. Eating chicken in Vietnam is sort of expensive because it takes at least several months to have a “mutual” chicken to be ready to harvest lol.

When I first moved to Singapore, I loved chicken so much because it was amazingly cheaper than those in Vietnam. I loved the dark meat and so I was so easy to buy only tights or drumsticks or even quarters, not like in Vietnam, it would be expensive if I only bought some parts of the chicken. However, soon I realized that those chickens were not as good as the “pure” Vietnamese chickens, especially when I just simply boiled the chicken.

So I come up with this dish to “utilize” the dark meat of chicken that I love with some ingredients that are really easy to find in Singapore. This dish is called Ga Xe Phay (Shredded Chicken Salad). It’s simple, easy to make but there’s a lot of things going on in this dish, especially I love the way the chicken turns out. Let’s get started!

Simple but delicious – Shredded Chicken Salad (Ga xe phay)

1. Ingredients:

• 1 big chicken quarter leg (Bone-in or boneless is fine) (Of course, if you love white meat, go ahead and use it :D)
• 1 sweet onion
• 3 Tablespoons of sugar
• 1 ½  Tablespoons of rice vinegar (or lemon/lime juice, or combinations)
• 2 Tablespoons of fish sauce
• ½ Tablespoon of salt
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro (or in Singapore they call parsley)
• 1 red chili, chopped very small

2. Instructions:

• Slide the sweet onion thinly, then toss with ½ Tablespoon salt. Let it sit for about 20 – 30 minutes. Then rinse with water several times. You will see that the volume of the onion is going to reduce a lot. But that’s the way to make the onion to absorb the spices better.
  

  Slide the onion thinly then toss with salt

• Put all the onion in a bow, then add sugar, rice vinegar (or lemon/ lime juice), fish sauce. Toss it well and let set aside.
• During the time we wait for the onion to marinate with salt, we clean the chicken, rub with salt to clean it. Put the chicken in a pot, and then pour in cold water, just to cover the chicken. Add a pinch of salt and bring it to boil. Shimmer for about 10 – 15 minutes until the chicken is done.
  

  Boil the chicken then shred it thinly

• Take the chicken out and put right away in a bowl of ice water to make the chicken firm, and cool down faster. Take the chicken out then shred the chicken thinly.
• Here comes the final step to put everything into one dish. So we’ve got marinated onion, shredded chicken and chopped cilantro ready. Toss the chicken with the onion together and then add the chopped chili. Toss it well and correct the seasoning. Add the chopped cilantro then toss again.
  

  Toss marinated onion and shredded chicken, then add cilantro, correct seasoning

• Put everything out to a plate then sprinkle some more chopped cilantro to the top, and a pinch of pepper.

There you go, shredded chicken salad (Ga xe phay). Simple but elegant! I love the taste of chicken with the sweetness of onion, a little bit sourness, and some heat from the chili. Try this, you’ll love it! This dish is super good in summer when the weather in Hanoi is hot with the humidity rises up to 100%. Ga xe phay make you feel fresh and want to live through those hot days. It could be a very simple solution for any kind of left-over chicken.

Vietnamese shredded chicken salad (Goi Ga Xe Phay)

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 30 mins Cooking Time: 30 mins 30 mins

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 1 big chicken quarter leg (Bone-in or boneless is fine) (Of course, if you love white meat, go ahead and use it :D)
• 1 sweet onion
• 3 Tablespoons of sugar
• 1 ½  Tablespoons of rice vinegar (or lemon/lime juice, or combinations)
• 2 Tablespoons of fish sauce
• ½ Tablespoon of salt
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro (or in Singapore they call parsley)
• 1 red chili, chopped very small

Instructions

• Slide the sweet onion thinly, then toss with ½ Tablespoon salt. Let it sit for about 20 – 30 minutes. Then rinse with water several times.
• Put all the onion in a bow, then add sugar, rice vinegar (or lemon/ lime juice), fish sauce. Toss it well and let set it aside.
• During the time we wait for the onion to marinate with salt, we clean the chicken, rub with salt to clean it. Put the chicken in a pot, and then pour in cold water, just to cover the chicken. Add a pinch of salt and bring it to boil. Shimmer for about 10 – 15 minutes until the chicken is done.
• Take the chicken out and put right away in a bowl of ice water to make the chicken firm, and cool down faster. Take the chicken out then shred the chicken thinly.
• Here comes the final step to put everything into one dish. So we’ve got marinated onion, shredded chicken and chopped cilantro ready. Toss the chicken with the onion together and then add the chopped chili. Toss it well and correct the seasoning. Add the chopped cilantro then toss again.
• Put everything out to a plate then sprinkle some more chopped cilantro to the top, and a pinch of pepper.

Shredded chicken salad (Ga xe phay) – Yummy and full of flavors