Asian Inspired Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
Chicken, tofu, seitan, or tempeh
1 bunch Cilantro, stems removed
Finely shredded Cabbage (could use green, red or both!)
Green onion cut into 2” pieces and sliced lengthwise (or cut in long diagonals for them to be pretty!)
Snap Peas topped and tailed and sliced diagonally (optional)
Spinach/arugula/kale any combination of hearty green lettuce of choice
Ribboned carrot slices, use a peeler
Toasted nut of choice: cashews or almonds work best
Sesame seeds
Crunchy item of choice: chow mein noodles, crispy fried vermicelli rice noodles, etc
Dressing:
2-3 crushed and minced garlic cloves
2 small knuckle of ginger grated (1 tbsp worth)
¼-⅓ cup of soy sauce or tamari
2 tablespoons of rice wine vin, or brown rice vin, or mirin
2 tablespoons of red wine vin
2-3 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or chili garlic sauce (adjust to heat preferences)
1 sift of salt
1 sift of ground cayenne pepper (optional for heat preferences)
Instructions:
Boil chicken in salty water and then shred with two forks, salt, pepper, onion pow, garlic pow it (sift just a little over the chicken and mix in with your hands until seasoning is to your liking, be careful with the salt)
If you don’t like shredded chicken you can cut the chicken into 1” square chunks and cook in a pan until each piece is well browned, you will need to periodically drain the water the chicken puts off
If using tempeh! Put a couple tablespoons of oil in a pan and toast the tempeh on both sides until browned. This will take the bitterness out of the tempeh.
Pick the stems off of the cilantro and add the leaves to a bowl and toss
Shred cabbage to desired size and mix the herbs until well mixed
Cut the green onions and snap peas however you plan to and mix those in as well
Mix any other green types in that you want this concludes your “dry” base
Make the carrot ribbons using your peeler and reserve those for the toppings unless serving family style in which case you can mix them in
Toast nuts in a dry pan watching carefully or they could burn
Make dressing and reserve until ready to eat
Top each serving with nuts, sesame seeds, crunchy bits and dressing