Chinois Chicken Salad
There’s a new lunch special on the menu at The Quarantine Cafe and it’s called GET IT YOURSELF CUZ I DON’T WORK HERE. Clearly, my line chef/waitress three-meals-a-day patience level has been maxed out, YA THINK? Today, I prepped in advance to avoid the dreaded “what’s for lunch?’ question...and we all lived to see another day. 😜
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A few months ago, I woke up with an insane craving for Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois Chicken Salad, which is hilarious because the last time I ate it was probably out of an airport kiosk in the American terminal at O’hare. You gotta respect the LOW bar of challenging myself to recreate an airport salad, right? But let’s not forget this salad is called Chinois and not Chinese which means regardless of where I ate it, it’s meant to be VERY high brow and extremely important and insanely delicious and that’s exactly what it was.
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Today, this was lunch for my crew. Full of subs and variations from the original version because: Instacart. Made IN ADVANCE and stored undressed in the fridge and ready for SELF SERVICE. Think they’ll still tip me??
STEP BY STEP PICTURES:
Chinois Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
- 4 garlic cloves, whole
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pureed ginger (I like People’s Organic of Gourmet Garden)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- ¾ cup plain greek yogurt or mayonnaise or a mix of both
- 2 tablespoons tahini (sub any nut butter but tahini is a STAPLE)
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons brown sugar (sub honey if you don’t have)
- 2 teaspoons Chinese mustard (use dijon if you dont have...or better yet: got any spicy mustard packets leftover from your last takeout?)
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- Juice from 1 lemon
- ¼ cup neutral oil like vegetable or canola oil (I used Avocado Oil)
- 3 cups shredded Napa cabbage (any cabbage works, even shredded brussels)
- 3 cups shredded romaine lettuce
- 2 cups shredded raddichio (or just throw in something for color...even a pepper!)
- 1 cup matchstick carrots
- ½ cup roughly chopped cilantro (optional for anti-cilantrites)
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast any protein of your choice will work)
- 2 cups crispy fried wonton chips, gently smashed (smash up a raw ramen noodle brick, or use almonds, sunflower seeds, literally anything crunchy)
- toasted sesame seeds, optional
Instructions:
- Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree until completely emulsified.
- Mix all the salad ingredients in a large bowl. If you’re making this ahead, do not add the crispy fried wontons until serving.
- Add about half the vinaigrette, toss and taste. Add more, if necessary. If you’re making the entire recipe, you should use about ⅔ of this dressing. If you’re making it ahead, don’t toss at all until ready to eat.
- To serve, garnish with sesame seeds and additional wontons, if desired, and serve.