recipes@mthvax (06/04/91)
Chinese BBQ Chicken Salad
(Adopted from Flora Chang's "Creative Chinese Cooking Made Easy"
This chinese chicken salad has always been a hit with friends and
family. It includes the delightful crunchy Mai Fun noodles. See
notes at end of recipe for more comments.
Marinade:
1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon soy sauce 2 tablespoons sherry
Sauce:
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons
sesame oil 2 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons hoisin sauce 2 stalks
green onion shredded
Other stuff:
3/4 head lettuce, torn into small pieces bean sprouts (equivalent
amount to 1/4 head lettuce) 1 or 2 boneless, skinless chicken
breasts 3 tablespoons sesame seeds Mai Fun Noodles or Sai Fun
Noodles (Chinese Rice Noodles) Oil for deep frying
Procedure:
The night before serving (or morning):
1. Mix marinade ingredients.
2. Cut chicken into small cubes about 3/4 inch or smaller. Mix
chicken pieces with marinade.
3. Bake chicken and marinade in dish large enough so that chicken
pieces are spread out (not in a big pile). I use a small Corning
Ware dish. Oven should be 350 degrees Farenheit. Bake
approximately 25 to 30 minutes until chicken pieces are cooked.
4. After sufficient cooling period, place chicken in refrigerator
to chill/store.
5. While baking chicken, mix sauce. Place in refrigerator to
chill.
Anytime before serving (this makes a great show for your guests or
you may want to do this ahead of time):
6. Pour oil in wok or pan until it is at least one inch deep (two
or three inches is much better!). Heat to 375 or 400 degrees.
7. Place a single Mai Fun noodle in hot oil to test. If the oil
is hot enough, the noodle will instantly expand like crackly
popcorn.
8. Place small quantities of noodles in the hot oil. They will
expand instantly. Be sure all noodles are cooked. Sometimes the
expansion will lift noodles out of the oil before they cook. Flip
the uncooked noodles into the hot oil so they cook too. The cooked
noodles don't retain much oil.
9. Cook enough noodles to match the size of lettuce/bean sprouts.
The noodles will shrink when you add the sauce.
Before serving:
10. Mix lettuce and bean sprouts. Place in bowl twice as large as
the lettuce/bean sprouts.
Do this the instant before serving:
11. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Mix with the
lettuce and bean sprouts.
12. Add the noodles. Mix with the salad.
13. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top of salad.
14. Remove the sauce from the refrigerator. Stir and pour over
salad. Serve immediately.
Notes:
1. Hoisin Sauce is available in most grocery stores in the Chinese
section.
2. Be sure to use the dark, flavourful sesame oil. The light
stuff, "naturally pressed and filtered", has no flavour and just
doesn't make it.
3. Mai Fun noodles are easy to find. Your grocery store should
have them in the Chinese section. They are translucent rice
noodles; sold in small bundles wrapped in plastic. Any similar
rice noodles seem to work fine.
4. Be careful when you double this (or any Chinese) recipe. DO
NOT double the salt items (salt, soy sauce, etc.).
5. This stuff tastes great!
--Dave