Adobo Chicken Salad with Shredded Coconut and Toasted Flatbread
After sampling Filipino chicken adobo (from the Spanish adobar, meaning "to marinate"), Chef Elana was determined to recreate it as a Plated recipe. She subsequently tried four different variations to nail this repeat-hit recipe's extremely flavorful, perfectly balanced marinade of salty soy, sweet agave, and tangy vinegar. Coconut adds a unique nuttiness and chewy texture to this chicken salad, which gets hit with lime, scallion, and Thai chile (if you're into heat, that is) atop charred naan.
Ingredients
- 1 limes
- 1 sweet onion
- 2 scallions
- 1 Thai chile
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon agave
- 2 tablespoons cup white vinegar
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 naan breads
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut
- 3 ounces baby arugula
Instructions
- Halve limes. Peel onion, halve, and thinly slice 1 half; dice enough of remainder to yield .25 cup. Rinse remaining produce. Trim and discard scallion roots and thinly slice. Halve Thai chile lengthwise; using a knife tip, discard seeds and stem, then thinly slice. As with all spicy chiles, avoid touching the inside, and remember to wash your knife, cutting board, and hands afterward.
- In a large shallow bowl or resealable plastic bag, stir together soy sauce, agave, and vinegar to make adobo marinade. Pat chicken dry with paper towel and add to adobo marinade, along with sliced onion. Turn everything to coat, then set aside to marinate at room temperature for at least 10 minutes.
- While chicken marinates, heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Carefully hover your hand a few inches away from the pan—when you can easily feel heat, add naan in a single layer, working in batches as needed. Toast until golden and warmed through, about 2 minutes per side. Stack naan and wrap in foil to keep warm until ready to serve.
- Return pan from naan to medium heat with 2 tablespoons canola oil. When oil is shimmering, remove chicken and onion from marinade, allowing excess to drip off and reserving all marinade in the bowl, and add to pan (see recipe tip). Cook until browned on bottom, 8-9 minutes. Flip chicken and pour over adobo marinade. Continue cooking until onion is soft and chicken is cooked through and no longer pink, 8-9 minutes more. Remove pan from heat.
- While chicken cooks, in a separate large bowl, combine juice of 2 limes, diced onion, Thai chile (skip or use half for less heat), half of coconut, and half of scallions, then set aside. Once cooked, transfer chicken and onion to cutting board, leaving adobo behind in pan, off heat. Roughly chop chicken and onion and add to bowl with salad. Pour over adobo sauce from pan, toss to combine, then taste and add salt and pepper as desired.
- Transfer toasted naan to serving plates. Pat arugula dry with paper towel and pile on top of naan. Drizzle 1 teaspoon olive oil over each, then top with adobo chicken salad. Garnish with remaining scallions and remaining coconut, and dig in!