Poached Chicken Salad with Peanut Chilli Sauce

This is the sort of supper I make when I want something bright and filling without turning on the oven. The chicken is poached, not fried, so it stays soft and mild, and the warm peanut sauce does the flavour work. The sauce is a loose take on the bang bang style dressings you find in Chinese-inspired takeaways across the UK, where sweet, nutty and sour notes sit together. Here it is built from peanut butter, a spoon of honey, a little sesame oil and plenty of garlic and ginger, so it tastes deep without being heavy.

A word on the chicken. Breast meat is lean, which is why it can go dry so quickly. Poaching it gently in water and then letting it rest in the hot liquid for five minutes keeps it juicy. If you have a thermometer, it should read 75C in the thickest part. Once it is cool enough to handle, slice it thinly, because thin pieces soak up the sauce much better than chunky ones.

The salad is more about texture than anything else. Shaving carrot into ribbons with a vegetable peeler takes about a minute and makes the bowl look far more generous than it is. Tossing the leaves and vegetables in soy and lime before anything else goes on means every bite is seasoned, and the coriander stems can go in too if you like a grassy edge. Keep the lettuce torn small so it holds the dressing without going limp.

For leftovers, keep the chicken and the salad in separate containers. The sauce clings to the chicken and the vegetables will weep if they sit together overnight. Cold chicken keeps for a day in the fridge and the salad is best eaten within the same day, so I tend to make only what I need. The sauce can be rewarmed with a splash of water and used as a dip for cucumber later in the week.

If you want something to go alongside, a bowl of plain brown rice or a small portion of noodles makes this more of a meal. Another good option is our Ginger and chilli salmon with tenderstem broccoli, which shares the same ginger and chilli warmth and works nicely on the same table. If you would rather have something handheld on the side, our Cod and salmon burger baps with dill are another easy option. For a second lunch later in the week, the Beef Salad with Lime Herb Dressing uses a similar bright lime and herb approach with a different protein.