Asian Napa Cabbage and Chicken Salad

This might be one of my favorite recipes for fresh Napa cabbage. It is a wonderful alternative to your leafy green salad. I usually make this when I am looking for the salad to be the meal.

The recipe is very easy to prepare. There are two stages to this recipe - dressing and salad prep. If you are pressed for time, you can make the dressing up to a day in advanced.

I should caution you that the dressing does have some kick with the garlic, ginger and chili paste. If you want to neuter the heat, I would suggest adding less of the chili-garlic sauce at first and increase the amount to a preferred heat level. Remember that it will take on additional heat, as the flavors meld together with time.

While I prefer to use stock for this recipe, as noted below the poaching liquid for the chicken or broth can be used as substitutes.

When serving this for guests, I do like to plate in a large shallow serving plate and will use a combination of both black and white toasted sesame seeds. I also garnish with additional thinly sliced scallion greens for color. Black sesame seeds are available at your local Asian grocer.

Ingredients:

Dressing

3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth/stock *
1/4 cups reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 cloves garlic - minced
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp rice-wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar or brown sugar substitute (Splenda)
1 tbsp fresh ginger - minced
1 tbsp tahini paste
1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp chile-garlic sauce

Salad

8 cups shredded Napa cabbage
3 1/2 cups shredded poached chicken (cooked)**
5 radishes, sliced
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cups chopped scallions
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Process:

Dressing

1) In a small container add soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, sesame oil and chile-garlic sauce and stir to blend

2) Add oil to small saucepan over medium-high heat

3) When oil is hot add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant (about 1 to 2 mins) - stir constantly

4) When fragrant, add soy sauce mixture to the pan and bring to simmer

5) Carefully whisk into saucepan, broth and tahini

6) Cook until slightly reduced (about 3 to 5 mins)

7) Remove dressing from heat and allow to cool

Salad

1) Toast sesame seeds in a dry skillet on medium heat until golden brown and aromatic (about 2-3 mins)

2) Remove sesame seeds from heat and allow to cool

3) In a large serving bowl, combine carrots, cabbage, chicken, radishes and scallions

4) Stir dressing to recombine and drizzle over salad - toss to coat

5) Top with sesame seeds and serve


* The poaching liquid from the chicken can be used in substitute for the chicken broth ** Should be around 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breast - boneless and skinless