Improvised Thai Chicken Salad

Method: Slice some shallots. A couple. If you haven't any shallots, slice some onions, red ones, preferably. If you have scallions, you can use those for a slightly non-traditional, but still good, variation. To the shallots add 2-3 finely sliced Thai chiles. If you don't have Thai chiles, serranos are a good substitute. Then add finely chopped or sliced or torn mint leaves, basil leaves, and kaffir lime leaves. The issue of tearing vs. chopping herbs is hotly debated, but when making a salad like this, I tend to cut the mint and the kaffir leaves into very thin slivers, or fine dice. Basil leaves you can tear, or leave whole if they're small. I didn't use basil in the above salad, but it's certainly a nice addition. To this mix of herbs, shallots, and chiles, add one poached, shredded chicken breast. If you want to be fancy, you can grill the chicken breast instead of poaching it. Mix well, add salt and pepper to taste, and the juice of one lime. Mix again. The salad is then dressed with a slight reduction of fish sauce, vinegar and sugar. I just eyeball the amounts, heat on low-medium until the sugar melts, and the remove from the heat and cool. When cool, squeeze in lime and/or lemon juice to taste. I used two limes and one lemon for the above salad--total volume of dressing is about a half cup.

Dress salad to taste, remembering that the dressing in a Thai salad does not just coat, but liberally anoints. Finally, just before serving, sprinkle with crushed peanuts (or another nut) and torn sprigs of cilantro.

Provided that you have the ingredients on hand, and poached the chicken ahead of time, this can be thrown together in about 15 minutes.

Feeds one. If you're me, it will feed you twice.