It is already hot here. It reached 30°C today, so we are prematurely thinking of salads.
We were experiencing our usual dilemma of what to have for dinner last night so I decided to go through a little pile of recipes Maus has accumulated. I settled on this recipe by Margaret Johnson. Margaret regularly publishes recipes in The West Australian. This one appeared on 25 March 2014.
Our neighbour gives us his old newspapers so we can use them as mulch. On a regular basis, Maus goes through the papers, before they get to be mulch, and takes out the cross word page. As luck would have it, the recipes are published on the same page.
As Margaret mentions, there are many versions of Bang Bang chicken. I don’t know that this one is particularly authentic but it sure tasted good.
The quantity I made was enough for Maus and me for dinner and for one lunch today. I adapted the original recipe by quartering the chicken and halving the dressing. The salad quantities were kept the same. Clearly, it depends on whether you like a bit of salad with your chicken, or a bit of chicken with your salad. We belong to the latter camp. Because we had, proportionally, a lot of salad, I felt like the salad needed something sprinkled on it. This was easily remedied by a sprinkling of rice wine vinegar.
Enough for two with leftovers.
Ingredients:
Chicken:
- 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast
- half a cup of sliced spring onions (I used the green bits)
- 2 slices of fresh ginger
Dressing:
- ½ cup peanut paste
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbs* sweet chilli sauce
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- about ¼ cup of water
*This is a 20 mil tablespoon.
Salad:
- 2 carrots
- 1 Lebanese cucumber
- 3 spring onions
- large handful of bean sprouts
- toasted sesame seeds for sprinkling on top
Method:
Chicken:
- Slice chicken breast in half, length ways.
- Place chicken breast in a pan, along with the half cup of spring onions and the ginger slices.
- Add enough water to cover the chicken and slowly bring to the simmer.
- Simmer until cooked to your liking, then turn off the heat and allow the chicken to steep.
Dressing:
- Place all the ingredients into a microwave proof bowl.
- Microwave for a minute or two.
- Stir to combine.
Salad:
- Toast sesame seeds. The easiest way to do this is to put the sesame seeds in a dry pan and heat, stirring all the while, until golden.
- Julienne the carrots and the cucumber.
- Diagonally slice the spring onions.
- Put the bean sprouts, carrots, cucumber and spring onions into a bowl. Mix to combine.
To serve:
- Pile the salad onto your plates.
- Remove the chicken from the broth and cut it into long strips.
- Arrange the chicken over the salad.
- Spoon the sauce over the chicken.
- Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds over the top.
- Decorate with a sprig of coriander.
Passion Fruit Garden 
I think I’ve read this post about four times intending to comment on it only to get interrupted and pulled away to other things. I love the looks of this chicken but especially the name – what a GREAT name! I think I’m just going to call some of my own dishes bang-bang…just for the hell of it and to maybe impress my husband.
Hi Glenda, I have never heard of this dish before, looks very delicious!
Hi Cheri, It is very popular in various guises.
Wonderful recipe! Just in time for our spring – thanks!
It is amazing that salads are already in the air ….
Enjoy the warm weather Glenda and that Bang Bang Chicken sure looks delicious. Maybe you could enlighten me on why it’s called Bang Bang 🙂
Hi Moya, Traditionally the cooked chicken is pounded until flat and then shredded. Bang bang is the sound of the chicken being pounded.
You reached 30˚ today and we hit 27˚ for the last time, according to our esteemed weathermen. (This they will get right!) This salad would be perfect on a hot summer days. Easy to prepare and the stove stays off. 🙂
Hiya John. I am no fan of our summer, the heat is ruthless.
Your recipe Glenda looks both delicious and healthy.
Thanks Lara.
Looks like a really easy & tasty lunch to pull together. Is the sauce a little like satay sauce?
Hi Nancy, very similar.
Looks good Glenda. We eat a version of this on a bed of cold rice noodles – it’s one of my summer standby meals.
Hi Anne, I think your version may be a bit more authentic.
I’ve been dying to read this post… the words Bang Bang Chicken in my In Box have been tempting as I pass the laptop screen on the kitchen table as I go about my domestic goddess Saturday.
Yum. Peanut paste? Different to peanut butter?
Absolutely, we Australians have peanut paste. The rest of the world has peanut butter 🙂
Yummy! I love this!
Me too Liz.
Sounds perfect to me…crunchy and flavorful.
Hi Karen, Thanks for stopping by.
My pleasure. 🙂