Description
This twist on the viral crispy rice salad takes the flavor of juicy satay chicken and turns it into a lovely, satisfying salad. Crisp up your rice, then combine with lots of lovely crunchy greens, and pour over a GORGEOUSLY creamy peanut butter dressing that you’ll be wanting to drink.
Ingredients
For the salad -
- 2 cups cooked long-grain rice (or 2/3 cup uncooked rice)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon chilli oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (GF soy sauce or tamari)
- 2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped or shredded
- 1 cup podded edamame beans
- 3 scallions, finely sliced
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- A handful of Thai basil, chopped
- A handful of mint leaves, chopped
- A handful of cilantro, chopped
- 1/3 cup roasted peanuts, crushed
- 1 red chilli, finely sliced (optional)
For the peanut satay dressing -
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon sweet chilli jam
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Cook your rice (skip this step if you’re using leftover rice). Add ⅔ cup of rice to a small pot you have a lid for. Add 1 cup of water, then set over high heat until you see foamy bubbles on top. Pop the lid on, reduce the heat to low and cook for 12 minutes. Remove from the heat (still with the lid on), and set aside for another 10 minutes, to finish steaming. After this, fluff up the grains with a fork, then spread onto an oven tray lined with parchment paper and pop it into the fridge to cool for at least 10 minutes.
- Make your crispy rice (oven instructions). Heat your oven to 400°F (200°C). If you’re using leftover rice, transfer it to a parchment paper lined oven tray. If you’re using your fresh rice, get the tray out of the fridge. Pour 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of chili oil over the rice, then mix it through the rice. Spread the seasoned rice into a thin, even layer (ideally one layer), then pop it into the oven for 25 – 30 minutes, to crisp up. Check the rice after 15 minutes to see how it’s going – some ovens are a little uneven and you may want to rotate the tray. Check it at 20 minutes too, as it can easily burn and again, all ovens are different. You can also do this in the air fryer: air fry for 15 minutes at 400°F/200°C, stirring a couple of times throughout the cooking process.
- Mix your satay dressing. Add ½ cup of peanut butter, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 2 teaspoons of fish sauce and 1 tablespoon of sweet chili jam to a bowl or a jar. Use a fork to mix into a thick paste. It’ll seem like it won’t come together, but just keep mixing. Slowly drizzle in ½ cup of water, mixing as you do, until you get a lovely creamy dressing, with the consistency of heavy cream.
- Mix your salad. Once your rice looks lovely and golden and crispy around the edges, remove it from the oven. Add the edamame beans, diced cucumber, chicken, cilantro, mint, Thai basil, red chili (if you’re using it), most of the peanuts, sesame seeds and scallions to a mixing bowl, or straight into a serving bowl. Pour the crispy rice on top, then pour roughly half the dressing on top. Mix well to combine. Drizzle over more of the dressing and scatter over the remaining peanuts to serve.
Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES: Use natural peanut butter, which only lists peanuts and a little salt in the ingredients list, rather than anything with sugar and oils. You’ll get the best flavor this way. Smooth or chunky is fine, you choose! If you want to cook chicken specifically for this recipe, I like to use this miso grilled chicken or satay chicken skewers recipe. You’ll end up with more dressing than you need – but it keeps well and is lovely drizzled over anything and everything (grilled chicken, steamed rice, or even as a toast topper!)
SUBSTITUTIONS: Skip the Thai basil if you can’t find it, or aren’t a fan of aniseed. You can use more cilantro and mint. Play around with the salad ingredients too – swap edamame for peas or broad beans, add crunchy bean sprouts, shredded cabbage or carrots, or finely diced red onion or shallot. If you don’t want to use the fish sauce in the dressing, just use more soy sauce. Use honey instead of sweet chili jam in the dressing if you like.
PREP AHEAD: Once you mix the salad with the dressing and store it, you’ll lose the crispiness of the rice. It’ll become a little chewy (which is still delicious!) but if you’re entertaining or taking it to a potluck, I recommend mixing the rice and dressing through the salad just before serving. But it keeps very well (roughly 4 days in the fridge) and doesn’t get soggy (!) so it’s a brilliant one to meal prep.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: salads
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 200g
- Calories: 542
- Sugar: 5.8g
- Sodium: 1890.9mg
- Fat: 26.3g
- Saturated Fat: 4.1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 19.6g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 43.9g
- Fiber: 4.7g
- Protein: 37.2g
- Cholesterol: 49mg