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Chinese Chicken Salad
Chinese chicken salad is one of those menu items that is usually fun to eat at places like the Cheesecake Factory as opposed to a real Chinese restaurant. It’s crunchy and tangy and always hits the spot. The recipe that I use is very simple and sometimes I tend to add extra vegetables to it, like boiled, but crunchy asparagus, or raw broccoli and even raw cauliflower. Most Chinese chicken salads require you to fry wantons or noodles in order to make them crispy, but I skip over that process and buy them all dried up and crispy in a tin. What makes this salad extremely tasty is its ginger dressing and please only use fresh ginger when preparing it, because it does make a difference.
You’ll need:
Serves 6
5 Persian cucumbers or half a big English cucumber
2 navel oranges or 11oz can of mandarin oranges
6 cups of finely shredded cabbage
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 avocado
5 green spring onions
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Chow Mein or Won Ton noodles for garnish
Ginger Dressing:
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
I tbsp Asian chili sauce
1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger
¼ cup vegetable oil
Salt if needed
How to:
Begin by shredding the cabbage and placing it in a bowl. Take your cooked chicken and dice it into cubes and add to the cabbage. Slice the Persian cucumbers not too thin, so that they retain a nice crunch and add them to the bowl. If using a big English cucumber then please cut off the skin, it doesn’t taste as good as the Persian cucumber skin. Then prepare your dressing, by whisking together the rice vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce and Asian chili sauce. Grate the fresh ginger and slowly add the vegetable oil to the sauce. Taste it before adding salt. Pour the Ginger dressing over the salad and toss it all together, and then plate it. Next, add a few pieces of cubed avocado and slices of orange to each plate. If using fresh oranges peel each individual slice before you cut them into quarters. Add the wontons and sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
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