ASIAN CHICKEN SALAD

  Many moons ago, when I was still a poor drone in Corporate America in Far Away Silicon Valley, my co-workers and I would often hop over to the Tau Tau Restaurant in Sunnyvale for lunch.  They had two dishes there we always ordered, The Tossed Shredded Chicken Salad and the Tau Tau Beef.   To this day I still remember those dishes and crave them from time to time. Since I happened to have a bunch of cilantro and some cooked chicken in my fridge I decided to try to make my own version of the chicken salad. I have to say it turned out pretty good but not quite the same as Tao Tao's recipe.  Still I enjoyed the whole plate and had another serving for dinner!    I didn't have any fried rice noodles so I just quick fried some Basmati rice which I also had already cooked in the fridge and I plated the salad over the rice.  I tossed the dressing together with the ingredients I suspected were in the original though I didn't have the ratios.  Here's my recipe:
ASIAN CHICKEN SALAD inspired by the Shredded Chicken Salad from Tau Tau Restaurant
Dressing
1/4 C. Lime Juice
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Honey
1/8 - 1/4 Tsp. Powdered Ginger
1 Tsp. Trader Joe's 21 Salute Seasoning
2 Tsp. Soy Sauce
2 Tsp. Peanut or Sesame Oil (The Sesame adds nice flavor!) 1 C. Chopped Cilantro
1/2 C. Toasted Black Sesame Seeds

Chicken
2 Cooked Chicken Breasts, Cubed
1/2 Lemon
1/2" Piece of Fresh Ginger
3 Garlic Cloves
Salt

Garnish and Presentation
Your Favorite Type of Crispy Asian Noodles (Mine are Fried Rice Noodles)
Bag of Cole Slaw Mix

Crush the ginger and the garlic cloves and toss into your pot filled with enough water to cover the chicken breasts.  Zest the lemon and reserve zest for salad later, squeeze the juice of the lemon into the water, then toss the lemon rind in as well.  Poach your chicken until tender by bringing to boil, then cooking over a medium heat for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, let the chicken stand in the water until it reaches a temperature of 160 degrees, about 15 minutes. Take chicken out of water and put in a covered container and allow to cool until ready to make the salad.

Warm together the lime juice, sugar and honey for a few seconds to thin the honey for blending, put this in a large mixing bowl. Add the powdered ginger, the TJ's 21 Salute Seasoning, the soy sauce and the oil and whip until well blended.  Add chicken, stir until well coated, toss in the coleslaw mix and the chopped cilantro. Serve on a bed of the crispy noodles, sprinkle on a handful of the toasted sesame seeds and serve. This would go really nicely with my Cilantro Martini.
HOW TO TURN THIS INTO A "TINY FOOD" Deep fry some wonton wrappers then spoon a bit of the salad on top & garnish with the Rice Noodles. Enjoy & let me know if you try this recipe! Tweet
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