Continuing with our Asian theme this week, I easily put together this brightly flavored Chinese Chicken Salad from a Fine Cooking special issue (2008) for a healthy and filling dinner. The baked wonton wrappers are well worth the effort in my opinion! They cooked up quickly and crispy in just a few minutes and when combined with the toasted almonds added a wonderful crunch to the salad. (I quickly polished off the leftover crunchy strips while cleaning up the kitchen!). Chopped peanuts would be a nice addition if you prefer those to the almonds. Substituting or adding vegetables that you have on hand would work for this salad as well. I can easily see some brightly colored peppers, sliced asparagus, snap peas or quartered cucumbers tossed in with the cabbage and lettuce.
While the original recipe called for bone-in, skin-on, split chicken breasts, I substituted chopped grilled chicken tenders that I happened to have on hand. Any left over chicken would work well here, but I seasoned mine with a bit of salt and garlic.
The star of this salad is really the dressing! I did decrease the amount of oil from the original recipe to 2 Tbs, and I think next time I may reduce it even further to a tablespoon and a half or so. I also used ground ginger in place of the requested freshly grated (again... just what I had on hand). My husband is a spicy guy and added a few tablespoons of Siricha Asian hot chile sauce to spice up his salad, but the recommended 1 tsp worked well for my more tender palate.
This bright main dish salad will become a welcome addition to our summer gatherings by the pool as the size can be easily increased to feed a crowd and could also be made vegetarian by simply omitting the chicken. Definitely a keeper!
This bright main dish salad will become a welcome addition to our summer gatherings by the pool as the size can be easily increased to feed a crowd and could also be made vegetarian by simply omitting the chicken. Definitely a keeper!
