Chinese no-chicken salad
I LOVED this salad! Nothing has to be cooked (except the won ton strips), so the recipe is fast and easy! The salad is topped with sesame seeds and some Fresno chili slices for a visual punch and a little heat.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Colander
Ingredients
- 1 Cups Shredded red cabbage.
- 1 Cup Shredded green cabbage
- 1 - 2 Avocado
- 1/2 Cup Grated carrot
- 2 Green onions
- 1 Cucumber Julienne cut
- 2 Cara Cara oranges You may use mandarin oranges packed in water
- 3 Spears Asparagus
- 12-15 Snow Peas
- 1/2 Jar Artichoke halves in water Optional
- 12 Beet leaves Use any type of green
- 5-6 Stems Cilantro
- 3" Daikon radish root Optional
- 1 Avocado
- 1/2 Cup Sliced almonds or cashews
- 4 Eggroll skins or 10 won ton skins
- 1 Jalapeno Serrano or Thai chili's
- 1 Fresno Chili Use 2 if you like it spicy!
- 1/2 Cup Orange juice
- 1 Tbsp Black sesame seeds
- 3 Tbsp Ginger pureé
- 1 Tbsp Garlic pureé
- 1/2 Tsp Sesame oil
- 3 Tbsp Tamari or Nama Shoyo
- 3 Tbsp Umeboshi Plum Vinegar Very salty. You should not need added salt if using this vinegar and tamari.
Instructions
- Lay eggroll skins on cutting board. Slice into 1/8" strips and place on a baking sheet with a rack. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
- Spray cashews or almonds with water and sprinkle on ground Thai pepper and salt. Bake along with eggroll skins to toast them. This step is optional if you do not care to roast them.
- Shred cabbages very fine. Chop across several times to make it easier to eat. Add to salad bowl.
- Wash and trim radish. Thinly slice and add to salad.
- Remove the root of the green peppers and discard any wilted tips. Slice diagonally into thin 1/4" slices and add to salad.
- Remove stem from fresno chili. Slice lengthwise and remove seeds. Slice very thin and add to salad.
- Rinse and cut cilantro (or Thai basil). Add to lettuce.
- Trim and slice cucumbers into julienne strips.
- Remove strings from snow peas. Slice lengthwise into 3 or 4 slices.
- Bend asparagus down on both ends. It will snap where the stem starts to get tough. Wash and cut the tender ends on a diagonal into 1" pieces.
- Add the asparagus and snow peas to hot water. Simmer over low heat around 5 minutes then stain and add to an ice water bath.
- Place artichokes in an ice water bath to chill and rinse them from the Citric acid brine.
- Mix together the orange juice, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and vinegar. Add sesame seeds. vegetables together.
- Either place everything on a large platter for everyone to custom make their own salad or divide into bowls. Nuts and crispy won tons are toppings as well as the salad dressing. Let everyone apply their own.
Notes
This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe!
The vegetables in this salad can vary greatly depending on what you have available. Sometimes I like thinly sliced radish, water melon radish, yellow beet, baby corn, bamboo shoots, or water chestnuts. Most of these add an added crunch.
Always rinse anything from a jar to eliminate the citric acid.
Cilantro is very nice with this salad. If Thai basil is available, you can use that. Thai basil has a unique flavor but it is difficult to find.
If you don't have snow peas or asparagus, try broccoli, sugar snap peas or frozen peas. It is recommended to blanch them.
Snappy Hack for an ice water bath.
Always put your ice into a large bowl the colander can be submerged into. Move the vegetables around with your hands to eliminate the hot water pockets between the vegetables. You want to stop the cooking process, chill the vegetables and be able to put them on the plate without ice chips or excessive water.
Got leftovers? Chop your leftovers and tuck into a nori cone for a nice sushi roll. Or wrap with large lettuce leaves and serve with a peanut sauce.
So much you can do!