Asian chicken salad with garlic ginger dressing
Plus, a little side dish of grilled zucchini with garlicky basil tomatoes I made for dinner last night. And, let's play the game 'Ask me anything'.
In case you didn’t know, I am based in Sydney, Australia (currently, I do move around a bit). We’ve had a delayed summer heatwave with temperatures soaring up to 39 celsius on Monday and mid-30s yesterday and today. That’s around 100 Fahrenheit, for my northern American readers. When it gets so hot, all my cooking plans go out of the window and I default to a salad.
My new blog recipe is a go-to Asian chicken salad which is what I made on Monday. I dish it up frequently, either when it’s quite warm or if I don’t feel like cooking. It’s a healthy, nutritious and easy-to-make mid-week meal.
I am also sharing an exclusive-to-Substack side dish I cooked last night. Finally, I’m running a little Q&A at the bottom of this post.
Have a good one,
Irena xo
Asian chicken salad with ginger garlic dressing
I use ready-cooked chicken (usually a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket) and my ginger garlic dressing is a Vietnamese and Japanese fusion with a little secret shortcut.
There are lots of crunchy vegetables like Chinese wombok cabbage (which is cheap here at the moment so that was my base), shredded carrots, cucumber, lettuce and aromatic herbs like coriander/cilantro or mint. You can use whatever is in season. I love topping an Asian salad with crunchy fried noodles or you can use roasted peanuts or almonds for a GF version.
I make a variation of this salad almost every week and use up whatever I have on hand. We often have a rotisserie chicken in the fridge for quick and easy meals, so that’s usually the protein but you can also use cooked shrimp/prawns, grilled sliced beef steak or pork. Tofu or tempeh would be a great vegetarian alternative.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, it’s much loved by my family.
Grilled zucchini with garlicky basil tomatoes
One advantage of subscribing to my Substack newsletter is that as well as letting you know about the latest recipes on the blog, I will also share spontaneous recipes that aren’t published anywhere else. These are dishes that I don’t get to photograph but want to share them because they turned out great. I take a quick snap or two with my phone and voila!
Here is a little side dish of grilled zucchini topped with garlicky basil tomatoes I made last night. Our dinner meal was a fridge surprise: cooked quinoa and baby peas with butter, grilled halloumi and a salad. This side dish was a last-minute add-on as I had to use up leftover zucchini in the fridge. It’s a flavour explosion with lots of herby, tangy lemon and almost spicy notes from the garlic.
I think it would go really well with grilled, baked or pan-fried fish or simple chicken or steak main. It’s almost like a flavouring condiment, say chimichurri or salsa. Another great way to serve it is with lentils or chickpeas and a little yoghurt drizzle over the top. It’s rather versatile. Enjoy!
Ingredients
2 medium zucchini, sliced into 0.5cm thick disks, slightly on an angle so they are more oval-shaped
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Tomato Garlic & Basil Topping
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered or 1 large tomato, diced
1 garlic clove, grated or minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (about 6-8 leaves, can be swapped with parsley or dill, you can also use dried basil)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of 1/4 lemon
A pinch of salt to finish
Instructions
Cut the zucchini into oval slices and place them on a plate or on a board in one layer. Sprinkle with salt and set aside for a few minutes. The salt will draw out some moisture, which will make the zucchini less oil hungry.
Heat about two tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat, use the largest pan you’ve got. Add the zucchini in one layer and cook for 2-3 minutes, until golden brown, then turn over and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add an additional spoonful of oil halfway or when doing the remaining batch.
While the zucchini is cooking, diced the tomatoes and basil and grate the garlic. Combine these in a bowl together with lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
Serve the grilled zucchini topped with the tomato salad mixture.
Ask me anything
Have you ever wanted to ask me a question about my recipes, cooking, my food blogging journey, travel, or my life in general? I see a lot of these on Instagram and thought I could collect a few questions and answer them in a separate newsletter post. You can leave a comment below, reply to this email or shoot a message to team@cookedandloved.com, or DM me on Instagram.
More yummy salads for you
Crying tiger beef & rice noodle salad bowl
Avocado halloumi salad with Mediterranean dressing
Crunchy vegetable feta salad with beets
Chicken cobb salad with chipotle ranch dressing