MENU DESCRIPTION: “Shredded napa cabbage, chilled grilled chicken breast, julienne cucumbers, edamame, crispy wontons, peanuts, cilantro, julienne carrots, red cabbage and scallions tossed with a lime-cilantro dressing. Topped with crispy rice sticks and Thai peanut dressing.” Plan ahead for this amazing salad clone by first grilling the
chicken, then chilling it, and preparing the cilantro-lime dressing and the peanut sauce in advance. The menu
description says that the salad is topped with “crispy rice sticks,” but upon close inspection I determined they are
actually crispy bean threads, cooked in a flash when dropped into hot oil for a few seconds. The crispy wontons are made from frying thinly sliced wonton wrappers in the same hot oil, For the edamame (soybeans), look in the frozen food section, and if they’re still in their pods, be sure to take them out before measuring and tossing them into the salad. Once you’ve got everything chilled and chopped, building each dish is a breeze, and you’ll have four huge dinner-size salads that will each be enough for a meal.
MAKES 4 LARGE SALADS.
INGREDIENTS
LIME-CILANTRO DRESSING:
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- ½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup minced red bell pepper
- ¼ cup honey
- 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- Dash salt
- Dash ground black pepper
SPICY PEANUT SAUCE:
- ½ cup crunchy peanut butter
- 6 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon chili sauce (or chili-garlic sauce)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon minced ginger
- ½ cup water
OTHER INGREDIENTS:
- 2 to 3 cups vegetable oil or vegetable shortening
- 8 wonton wrappers
- 1 handful bean threads
- 4 small skinless chicken breast fillets
- 1 cup cooked edamame
- 1 cup unsalted peanuts
- 12 cups chopped napa cabbage, chopped (1 large head)
- 2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
- 2 cups shredded or julienned carrot
- 1 cup julienned cucumber
- 4 green onions, chopped (green part only)
INSTRUCTIONS
MAKE LIME-CILANTRO DRESSING:
- Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender on high speed for 20 seconds, or until cilantro is chopped fine but not entirely pureed.
- Cover and chill.
MAKE SPICY PEANUT SAUCE:
- Combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over medium/low heat.
- Heat until sauce is hot, but not boiling, and sugar is dissolved.
- Pour mixture into a blender and blend for about 20 seconds.
- Cover and chill.
PREPARE CHICKEN:
- Cover chicken breasts with plastic wrap and pound them thin with a kitchen mallet.
- Rub oil on each breast, sprinkle each with a little salt and pepper, and grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until done.
- Wrap and chill the cooked chicken.
MAKE CRISPY WONTONS:
- Heat 2 cups of vegetable shortening or oil in a medium saucepan to 375 degrees.
- Slice a stack of 8 wonton wrappers into ¼-inch wide strips.
- Slice those strips in half.
- Fry them in hot oil for about 30 seconds or until light brown.
- Drain on paper towels.
FRY BEAN THREADS:
- Fry a big handful of bean threads in hot oil for about 10 seconds or until they float to the top of the oil.
- Drain on paper towels.
COOK EDAMAME:
- Follow the directions on the package.
- If the soybeans are in the pods, remove them and chill the beans after they have cooked.
TOAST PEANUTS:
- Heat peanuts up in a skillet over medium/low heat for 3 to 4 minutes or just until they start to brown.
- Immediately remove them from the heat so that they don’t burn.
ASSEMBLE SALADS:
- For each serving, combine 3 cups napa cabbage, ½ cup red cabbage, ½ cup carrot, ¼ cup cucumber, ¼ cup edamame, ¼ cup toasted peanuts, ¼ cup crispy wontons, and a couple tablespoons of chopped green onion in a large bowl.
- Thinly slice a cold chicken breast into bite-size pieces and add it to the salad.
- Pour 4 to 5 tablespoons of cilantro-lime dressing over the salad and toss well.
- Carefully pour tossed salad onto a serving plate. Sprinkle about ½ cup crispy bean threads on top
of the salad. - Spoon spicy peanut sauce into a squirt bottle and squirt the sauce in a sweeping motion over the top of the salad. Repeat for remaining servings.
