Spicy Cabbage and Chicken Salad

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1/2 pound total
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• About 3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 small head green cabbage, about 1 pound, quartered through the stem end, cored, and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide ribbons
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely shredded
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
• For the dressing:
• 1 or 2 Thai or serrano chiles, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 6 tablespoons unseasoned Japanese rice vinegar

Directions

1. Add water to a saucepan until it is half full, stir in the salt, and set it over high heat until it reaches a vigorous boil. Add the chicken breasts. As soon as small bubbles return around the sides of the pan, take the pan off the burner and clamp on the lid. Leave the chicken in the hot water for 20 minutes. It should feel set but not hard when pressed. Lift the chicken out, then save the pale stock for another purpose or pour it off. Once the chicken is cool enough to touch, use your fingers to pull it into slender shreds, following the grain of the meat. Transfer the chicken to a large bowl and let it come to room temperature.
2. While the chicken cools, place the onion in a small bowl and pour in enough white vinegar to cover it. Leave it for 15 minutes so the onion mellows. Drain it thoroughly, then add it to the chicken with the cabbage, carrot, and Vietnamese coriander.
3. For the dressing, use a mortar and pestle to pound the chiles, garlic, sugar, and salt into a vivid orange-red paste that smells wonderfully sharp. Scrape the paste into a bowl, then stir in the fish sauce and rice vinegar until the sugar and salt dissolve and everything is blended.
4. Right before serving, add the dressing to the salad and toss until everything is coated. The cabbage will soften a little as it sits with the dressing. Taste and fine-tune the sour, sweet, salty, and spicy notes as you like. Move the salad to a serving plate, leaving any extra dressing in the bowl, and serve.