Vietnamese chicken salad or Goi Ga

         I spent the whole of 2013 running from my grief. I went to Japan with Mr Sweet Potato and climbed up the hill studded with orange arches up to  the Shinto shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha decorated with skirted fox statues, praying for a sign.
         Shortly after I walked 152 km of the Camino through Gallicia with a lovely Australian couple, a Gallician now settled in California and an intellectually stimulating guide sharing pulpo, tinto and Albarino.
         A brief four months later when the faded green walls of the hospital started claustrophobically  closing in on me and the bad odor of the black dial up phone was unbearable as much as the voice on the other end asking me to admit a patient and the nurses' questions made me want to run as though I was escaping an erupting volcano, I knew it was time to go far from the madding crowd. So we took a plane to Houston  and then one to Panama city and then a smaller plane to Boca Town and finally a 40 min boat ride to little island off the Caribbean coast of Panama; Bocas Del Toro. I swam in the cucumber cool, turquoise  waters to soothe the sand flies bite that I must have collected eating fish dinners on the beach with tiki torches burning brightly as the waves methodically crashed on the shore.
          Obviously I was not done running far enough from my excruciating pain. So we went to Hanoi with Mr Cardamom  Chai and Ms Bahn Xeo and their extended family. From the cool salubrious mountains of Sapa to the emerald green waters of Bai Tung Long, from the food vendors on stools in Hanoi to the  history museum in the French quarter, it was cathartic, intense, beautiful and breathtaking.
          In Hanoi I took a cooking class with a chef, Anthony who had an easy smile and a winsome personality. We made Pho Bo and banana flower salad. My mother and grandmother would use the outer flowers to make a sweet, tart, spicy and bitter concoction for the new year signaling the nature of life. Anthony discarded the outer flowers, sliced and diced the inner core and then soaked it in a mix of lemon juice and rice wine vinegar. He then boiled and shredded chicken breast to make a fresh, lite, spicy and salty summer salad. Lacking banana flowers of any kind I used julienned carrots, cucumber and added fresh moong beans as recommended. I used my own poetic  license to go over board with cilantro, mint, scallions and fresh grated ginger.

         The dressing was cool, lite, spicy, salty and sweet with garlic, chilies, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar and sugar.
Toasted peanuts and sesame seeds make a perfect garnish to this exhilarating summer salad.
         I did not manage to run away from my omnipresent grief that seemed to be dissolved in the water I drank and air I breathed.  But 7,000 miles away in the northern Vietnamese city of Hanoi where women wore conical straw hats and carried old fashioned balances with produce and grain, where men and women huddled over a cooking fire slurping brothy noodle soups at all times of the day and night, I learnt to make a great Vietnamese summer salad from a chef with an easy smile and a love for food.
Bon Appetit.

                                            My summer fruit basket                                                 

A bunch of carrots and 2 cucumbers

A large bowl of mung beans

A bunch of cilantro, mint, scallions and a large piece of ginger

Julienne the carrots and cucumber and then add the mung beans

                                     

Add grated ginger

Add the finely chopped cilantro and mint

Saute the chopped scallions for a 2-3 min 

And add to salad

                               

Season 2 chicken breasts with salt and pepper

                          

Cook by steaming

Cool down

Add shredded cooked chicken to salad

                                                                       The Dressing

This Red Boat fish sauce has flavor and depth without being fishy

4 pieces of garlic(chopped), 1/2 a green chili(chopped), 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of rice wine vinegar, 1/2 cup of fish sauce
and juice form 1-2 limes

Mix all of above together

This lite,salty,tangy, spicy  summer dressing is ready

Add dressing to salad

Toss well

                                                                      The Garnish

I cup of peanuts and 1/3 cup of sesame seeds

Roast the peanuts in a pan

Roast the sesame seeds

Plate the salad and garnish with roasted, warm peanuts and sesame seeds. Bon Apetite!