Thai Style Chicken Salad with Cashews and Coconut

Thai Style Chicken Salad with Cashews and Coconut

So about a month ago I signed up for a jiujitsu competition on February 1st with the hopes of losing weight, gaining muscle and training hard. Everything was going fine until Monday night when I hurt my neck at the gym. I had already lost about 15 pounds and was trying to lose another 5 so I could drop another weight class since there weren’t any guys in my division.

I was tracking my food and eating healthy. I cut back on drinking beer and found recipes that were healthy, delicious, low fat and had a good amount of protein. This is one such recipe. It’s sweet, salty, sour, packed with umami, loaded with fresh herbs and low fat. This recipe is most likely linked to Thailand with its incorporation of flaked coconut.

Don’t be afraid of fish sauce. The brand I use – Red Boat – can be found at most Asian markets and in our research and development, it presents the most umami flavor and least amount of fishiness. My sous chef is from Vietnam and she and her family have used this brand for years.

So here is the recipe for Thai-Style Chicken and Herb Salad.

Thai Style Chicken Salad with Cashews and Coconut

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened wide-flake coconut

• 2 Fresno or jalapeño chilies, stemmed and thinly sliced

• 3 medium garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

• 1/3 cup lime juice

• 1/4 cup fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon white sugar

• 2 medium shallots, halved and thinly sliced or half cup of sliced red onion

• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken

• 1/4 medium head green or red cabbage - cored and shredded (about 2 cups) - (**Trader Joe’s has a good shredded cabbage mix.)

• 1/2 cup roasted cashews, roughly chopped

• 2 cups lightly packed fresh basil, torn

• 2 cups lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves

• 1 cup packed mint leaves

• ½ cup sliced celery

Directions:

• In a small skillet over medium heat, toast the coconut until golden brown - about 2-3 minutes

• In a blender, combine half of the chiles, the lime juice, the garlic, the fish sauce and sugar. Blend for one minute.

• Transfer to a large bowl, add the chicken, shallots and let it stand for 10 minutes

• Add the cabbage to the chicken, and gently rub to dressing into the cabbage - use gloves. Add the remaining, sliced chiles, the coconut and cashews.

Download it here

Quick and Easy Chilaquiles Rojos

One of my favorite foods in the entire galaxy is CHILAQUILES pronounced (chee-lah-KEE-lays”)!! Yes! My mouth waters just thinking about them. Chilaquiles, from the Nahuatl word chīlāquilitl, is a traditional Mexican dish consisting of corn tortillas cut in quarters and lightly fried. They are often served for breakfast with eggs and a side of beans, eggs and nopalitos (cactus). There are two versions - rojos and verdes (red and green). We will be making the red version and saving tons of time using a quick enchilada recipe that can be used for enchiladas rojos as well. Instead of toasting dried chiles, rehydrating them and blending them with tomatoes and spices, we use dried chile powder and spices and quickly simmer the sauce to perfection. We also save time by using fresh tortillas chips instead of frying them ourselves. This recipe is fast and not just for breakfast. Top chilaquiles with a fried egg over easy, sour cream, chopped cilantro and onion and enjoy. The runny yolk of the egg adds another touch of creaminess that sends this dish over the top. 

Get the full recipe here

This dish was adapted from a recipe from Zhee Zhee Aguirre, a former chef-instructor at Mira Mesa High School and now a restaurateur in Lake Tahoe. Zhee Zhee helped me tremendously when I first started teaching by sharing recipes and teaching techniques. She also coached some of the toughest and most competitive teen cooking teams in San Diego and California, consistently winning competitions and placing in the top 2 year after year. Thanks Zhee Zhee!

abbreviations:

c. = cup

tsp. = teaspoon

Red Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:

Sauce:

• 1 c. tomato sauce

• 1/2 tsp. chili flakes

• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced thin

• 1/2 c. small diced onion

• 4 tsp. chili powder - or a combination of ancho, New Mexico or California chile powders.

• 1 tsp. cumin

• 1/4 tsp. Kosher Salt 

• 1 1/2 c. chicken stock = 1 cup of water + 1 1/2   tsp. chicken broth powder (caldo de pollo) or substitute vegetable broth if vegetarian

• 2 tablespoons of oil - olive oil or vegetable

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a small sauté pan until barely smoking. Saute onion and garlic until caramelized.  

2. Stir in chile powder and cumin and toast for 30 seconds then remaining sauce ingredients and bring mixture to a boil.  Turn heat down to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Add salt if needed.

3. Blend all until smooth, being careful to let some steam out the top of the blender while blending.

4. If using the next day, cool it down on an ice bath and store properly until ready to use.

5. Reheat sauce until boiling the next day if storing the day before. 

   • if you want a thicker sauce, add 1 tablespoon of flour when you add the spices.

Chilaquiles:

Directions: 

1. Add 6 to 8 cups of freshly fried tortilla chips to a large saute pan. Add the boiling enchilada sauce and coat evenly and heat thoroughly. Turn off heat immediately and serve. **Do not over cook the tortilla chips or they become soggy. The key to great chilaquiles is having a little crunch to them. 

2. In a small non-stick pan, heat 1-2 teaspoons of oil. Crack an egg in a bowl, being careful not to crack the yolk. Season the egg with a three finger pinch of kosher salt. Add the egg to the oil and cook 2 minutes. Gently flip over and cook another 1-2 minutes. 

3. Serve the chilaquiles with a drizzle of mexican crema (sour cream), the fried egg, chopped cilantro and diced onion.

4. Enjoy!

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Monday with Essie and Further Thoughts on Fatherhood and Family

Some of the best times I have are at the beach at low tide - Ocean Beach, La Jolla, Cardiff. That’s when we find hidden treasures like starfish, sea anemone she can poke her fingers into, beautifully colored rocks and shells she can collect. She finds shells and tells me, “listen Dada, you can hear the ocean in this one!”

I’m beginning to think Essie’s love language is quality time. When I spend time with her, just her and I, her attitude changes, we don’t fight, she wants to hold my hand or cuddle or walk along the rocks on the beach. It’s been a difficult year for her adjusting to Ruah. Essie was the princess for 5 years and now there’s another little princess in the house that needs a lot of our attention.

There’s time for Ruah, time for Stacy, time for Essie. I want that time to matter for everyone. We are all just chugging along with our love tanks running near empty. Ruah has been sick for over a month and that has added to the strain of finding time for everyone. Last night Ruah was up for an hour and a half crying from 2 till 3:30. Then she fell asleep for an hour and was up again. Then she only slept 50 minutes at school today and threw up 3 times after she woke up. And Stacy didn’t sleep that whole time.

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Stacy and I had one of our biggest fights this weekend because we are all just exhausted. What does it matter if we work and work and can’t make time for each other?

But I know if I can make time like I did for Essie and Stacy can take time to walk with her mom and Ruah, we can come together as a family and feel refreshed.

Tonight, I picked up sushi for us and we sat down as a family and ate and Ruah kept grunting and signing for more rice and she seemed so happy even after being up all night and throwing up. Essie ate her rice, miso soup and edamame and Stacy ate her food minus the order of egg rolls I forgot to order! Whoops. I ate my food first so I could feed the ravenous Ruah and I was reminded of the quote by C.S. Lewis, “The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal.”

We shared a meal. We talked about creativity. We spent time with each other. We laughed.

I call that a victory.

What are some of your victories?