Vietnamese Rangitikei Chicken Salad

Fresh herbs are magic with the chicken in our salad. Use a mix of Vietnamese mint and garden mint and a little Thai basil is good too.

4 skinless Rangitikei Free Range Chicken Breasts
1 lemongrass stalk, white part only
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
2 teaspoons flaky salt
8 whole black peppercorns
1 star anise

Dressing
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
1-2 long red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped, or to taste
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Salad
2 carrots, grated
1/2 cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, deseeded and very thinly sliced
1/4 cabbage, very thinly sliced
2 handfuls baby silver beet leaves, shredded
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

Place the lemongrass, ginger, salt, peppercorns and star anise into a large saucepan filled with cold water and bring to the boil. Add the chicken breasts, turn off the heat, cover and leave chicken breasts to poach for 1- ½-2 hours. This will depend on weight of chicken breasts.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients until the sugar is dissolved. Add the carrot, cucumber, cabbage and silver beet and toss to combine.

Using clean hands, shred the chicken and add to the salad with the fresh herbs. Toss well before serving immediately.