Vietnamese Chicken Salad (Gà Bóp)

Growing up, gà bóp was on regular rotation in our household. It's a dish from Huế, a region in central Vietnam, where the maternal side of my family is originally from. My mom learned to make it from my grandma, and whenever we sat down to eat this dish, she'd reminisce about how my grandma used to make it with extra onions, because they were her favorite.

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This chicken salad is made with hand shredded poached chicken. Gà means chicken, and bóp means "to squeeze," so if you're going to make this dish, you'll want to get your hands in there to really mix things up! The dressing is super simple: lime, salt and pepper. Sweet onion gives the salad flavor without the usual bite that onion brings. The star of the show, however, is rau răm, or Vietnamese coriander. The bright, slightly peppery herb is essential to the flavor of the dish, and I'm sorry to say that there isn't a proper substitution for it. You are free to use other herbs, but you won't be making an authentic gà bóp.

Jump to:

• ? Ingredients
• ? Instructions
• ? Tips and substitutions
• ? Serving suggestions
• ? How to store or make in advance
• ? Serving size
• Vietnamese Chicken Salad (Gà Bóp)

? Ingredients

You will need:

• 1 whole chicken (about 3-5 lbs)
• 1 shallot
• 1 sweet onion, sliced into half moons (about 3 cups or 290g)
• the juice of 2 limes (about ½ cup or 150 ml)
• 1 bunch of rau răm (Vietnamese coriander), chopped (about 2 cups or 60g)
• salt and pepper to taste

? Instructions

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add your whole chicken and one peeled shallot to the water and cook at a rolling boil until chicken is cooked. The chicken is cooked when its internal temp taken in the thickest part of the thigh is 165 degrees. This takes about 30-45 minutes.

Take the chicken out and let it rest at least 30 minutes or until it it cool enough be handled with your hands.

While the chicken is cooking and resting, chop your onion up. Season the onions with salt and pepper and pour the lime juice over them. Give the onions a mix and set aside.

When the chicken is cooled, shred it by hand.

Add the onions (but not the lime juice) to the chicken along with the rau răm. Mix the ingredients together with your hands until well incorporated.

Taste the salad and add more salt and pepper or the reserved lime juice as necessary. I ended up adding all of my lime juice. Make sure you don't skimp on the black pepper.

? Tips and substitutions

In my opinion, there is no real substitute for the lemony, peppery fragrance of rau răm. You can find this herb at most Asian grocery stores. It might be labeled "Vietnamese coriandor," "Vietnamese mint" or "pacpeo herb." If you can't find it anywhere and really want to make this dish, you could try Thai basil, but it won't have quite the same flavor. You'll be making a different, but still delicious dish.

If you don't want to use an entire chicken, you can buy chicken legs or breasts and poach those instead. Adding the shallot makes the chicken more fragrant, so don't forget it. Poaching chicken legs or breasts will not take as long as a whole chicken, so adjust the cooking time as necessary. I like using a whole chicken to get both white and dark meat.

You could also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, but I like having the skin in my salad. Skinless breasts may turn out a little dry, but it isn't likely since it is poached. I love this method of cooking chicken for moist, succulent meat. For another recipe that uses poached chicken, try these sesame noodles with chicken and crunchy vegetables.

Sweet onion gives the salad onion flavor without the bite. I would not recommend using yellow onion unless you love onions. Red onions would be an appropriate substitute.

? Serving suggestions

Gà bóp is typically served with congee. Use the chicken broth left over from poaching the chicken to make the congee by adding some rice to it and cooking until the mixture has thickened to a porridge consistency. Season with salt, pepper and fish sauce to taste.

The salad also tastes great with rice or sticky rice. Once again, take advantage of the chicken broth you've made and use it to cook your rice. Add a pinch of turmeric for color and salt for flavor. I have served my Vietnamese chicken salad with sticky rice in these photos.

? How to store or make in advance

You can make this entire dish one day before serving. The dish actually gets better with time if you let the flavors develop in the fridge overnight.

If you need to make the dish further in advance, poach and shred the chicken first. You can keep frozen, shredded chicken in the freezer for 6 months or 4 days in the fridge. When you are ready to eat, the onions and herb with the defrosted chicken.

? Serving size

A four pound chicken typically serves five to seven people. If you need to scale the recipe down, buy individual chicken parts, like legs or breasts, and poach those separately. Cornish hens will also work in this recipe and yield a smaller amount of chicken. You can also freeze half of the shredded chicken for about 6 months and use it in other recipes.

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