Chinese Chicken Salad

This past Sunday, our Sunday fellowship meal menu was very simple:

Shrimp Fried Rice (click here for recipe)

Chinese Chicken Salad

Garden Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Watermelon Slices

Lime Cheesecake

I don't need to go too far to get the most honest opinions whenever I try something new on my church family. My four children can give me the best critique on the newest dish with no hesitation whatsoever! My two older teens in particular have such developed palates that they can pick out certain spices or flavors by name. I am guilty of that.

Every Sunday night, driving home, my standard question is "How was the dinner for you and your friends tonight?" And they will give me the run down of every dish I served.

When it came to Chinese chicken salad, my first child was somewhat cautious and said, "It had a strange taste like cinnamon and I don't think kids liked it". Chinese five spice powder contains cinnamon and clove.

Even though many adults told me how much they loved this salad, I realize that it wasn't the favorite for the children! Oh well, I'll try something else next time, but I am glad the church children got to try something new!

You will need Hoisin sauce, Mung beans or threads, and Chinese Five Spice powder which can be purchased from Asian food section of your grocery store or the Asian market.

Mung beans are deep fried just for a few seconds. Do you see the utensil I am using? It's called an Asian Spider Skimmer and it is one of the most useful tool for frying. Click here for more info.

I mixed the fried mung bean threads and chicken mixture together when serving for the sake of convenience for a large crowd, but at home, you can serve it like the photo above on a bed of fried beans for a spectacular presentation.

Chinese Chicken Salad

Serves 10-12

Dressing:

3 Tablespoons Hoisin Sauce

1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

2 teaspoons sesame seed oil

1 teaspoon dry mustard

3 teaspoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

4 Tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed

Salad:

1 whole cooked rotisserie chicken (2 1/2 pound), regular seasoning (not bbq or lemon pepper),

dark and white meat hand shredded into 2" shreds

1 teaspoon of Chinese five spice powder

1 package 5 oz Chinese mung beans

(also called Chinese vermicelli, rice threads, or bean threads)

3 Cups of vegetable oil for frying mung beans

1 medium head of iceberg lettuce, julienne fine

4 green onions, cut into 1 1/2" pieces and julienne lengthwise

2 cups cilantro, leaves only, washed and dried

3 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, black or white

optional: Colored bell peppers julienne to add color

Take all dressing ingredients and mix well, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Gently toss shredded chicken meat with 1 teaspoon of Chinese five spice powder. Set aside.

Remove mung beans from package and break up or pull apart into manageable pieces. Do this over a large bowl or dried sink or you will have pieces of brittle mung beans all over the kitchen floor!

Heat 3 cups of oil in wok or large cast iron fryer to 375 degrees F. Place a handful of mung beans into oil, when they puff, turn over immediately and fry the other side, all in 3 seconds! They will puff up 5 times the original size of dried beans so be careful not to put too much in the oil at one time. Drain on wire rack and fry the remaining.

About 10 minutes before serving, in a large bowl, to dressing over shredded chicken and greens and mix well. Add sesame seeds. Then gently fold in fried mung beans. Reserve some to make a nest over a large platter and put mixed salad on top.

Serve immediately. This salad is best when fried beans are crispy and crunchy.