Ch-ch-chinese Chicken Salad, bitchez
The weather here in sunny Boise Idaho has turned for the worse. For the past 3 days, the heat (95°F!!!!) has been leaving me ignoring the kitchen, prefering to eat out than to deal with the heat. It looks like gazpacho and multitudes of cold salads are in my future, starting with this one.
The only "cooked" part is a piece of chicken, and one totally doesn't need to be in the kitchen to watch chicken cook in the oven. The finished product was exactly what I was hoping for, and I'm thinking about making the exact same thing tonight. So awesomely good!!
What you need for the salad:
1 Boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 Head preferred lettuce (though I suggest not using iceberg - yuck!)
2 Spring onions
1 Large carrot
½lb. Flat snap peas
Other misc veggies - mushrooms, red pepper, etc.
For the dressing:
½C Soy Vay Chinese Chicken marinade OR
¼C Molasses
¼C Soy sauce
2 Tbsp Sesame oil
1 Tbsp sake (rice wine)
4 Tbsp rice or white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp sesame seeds (toasted or non-)
Take that chicken, wash it off, and preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a baking pan with some oil, toss the chicken in, and sprinkle the following on it (or whatever you want, really - it's your chicken):
S&P
Garlic powder
Ginger powder
Curry powder
Rub it all in and toss the chicken in the oven. Lay down in the bedroom (or whichever room is coolest in your abode), read for a 1/2 hour. Take the chicken out of the oven, turn the burninating offender off, and leave the chicken out to cool. After another 20 minutes in the A/C breeze, put the chicken into a ziplock bag and toss in the fridge. I highly suggest doing a bunch of chicken like this at once so you don't have to do it over and over again and deal with the stupid oven and heat and ungh.
When you're ready to make the salad, get all of your ingredients together, wash 'em up, and get pull out one large bowl or 2 medium-large bowls in which to make the salad.
Wash your dirty dirty hands and get the cooled chicken out from the fridge. Shred the crap out of that chicken. In the meanwhile, get the significant other or cat to mix up the dressing for you (add all ingredients to jar and shake). If necessary, redo dressing once the cat gets its paws into it.
Slice your lettuce up small, then spin it about in your salad spinner (or dry carefully before cutting with a towel). Slice the green onions the same way and toss into the bowl(s) atop the semi-dry lettuce.
Chop the carrot into matchsticks and cut the pea pods into squares.
With all of the veggies in the bowl, pour enough dressing over the top to just lightly coat everything - you will probably not have to use all of it. Toss with your hands (I'm a big fan of hand-tossing stuff. Screw the salad forks - it's so much easier manually!). Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds and ramen bits, if you're into ramen bits. Eat with chopsticks, fork, or fingers. No spoons allowed. Enjoy with a few Tsing Taos.
