I had been eating an awful lot of beef recently, so I decided to go back to a chicken and fish diet for a bit.  From the compilation of cookbooks, I threw together this Spicy Thai Salad with Ground Chicken.  While you can use beef or pork, the chicken is healthier. 

  • 1.5 lbs ground chicken/pork/beef
  • 1 1/2 TBSP uncooked sticky rice (I used long grain brown rice)
  • 1 tsp peanut oil
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 TBSP fish sauce
  • 2 minced shallots
  • 1 green onion bunch chopped
  • 1 tsp mint leaves chopped
  • 2-3 dried red chilies chopped
  • 2 1/4 TBSP lemon juice (or 1 1/2 TBSP lime juice)
  • 1/4 c of water or chicken stock
  • cilantro
  • cabbage

Put the ground chicken in boiling water until cooked.  If boiling meat doesn’t float your boat, you can always saute the meat. 

Then heat the wok until hot and add the rice until golden brown.  Make sure to stir the rice so it doesn’t burn.  Then pound the rice in  a mortar and pestle until grounded.  Add the peanut oil to the wok and mix around.  Then add the cooked chicken and the rest of the ingredients (except cilantro and cabbage) to the wok.  Add water or chicken stock if the mixture seems too dry. 

Serve over coarsely chopped cabbage, or like I did, make cabbage wraps.  To soften the cabbage, I put the cabbage leaves on top of the ingredients in the wok for 20-30 seconds. 

 Spicy Thai Salad with Ground Chicken

It was delicious — the spiciness, crunchy texture from the cabbage, and overall healthy (yet it doesn’t taste like cardboard).