Asian Noodle Salad

Serves: 4 Time: About 40 minutes

2 cooked sliced chicken breast
3 green onions
2-4 c broccoli slaw
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 inch knob of ginger, grated
2 cloves of garlic, grated
150 g (1/3 lb) rice noodles
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 c cilantro

If you’re starting with raw chicken breast, season them with salt and pepper, and place in a 375 F oven for 30 minutes (depending on size, until internal temperature is 165) while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Whisk peanut butter, soy, olive oil, vinegar, fish sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic together until smooth.
Thinly slice bell pepper and green onion.
Bring a pot of water to boil. Blanch bell pepper for thirty seconds and add to dressing with broccoli slaw and green onions.
Cook rice noodles according to package direction. Drain, but don’t rinse, and add to veggies and dressing. Toss to coat with dressing. Toss in peanuts.
Slice chicken breast (let stand 10 minutes if it’s coming straight out of the oven) and serve over the noodles. Sprinkle with cilantro before serving.

TTA (Tips, trick, alternatives)

You can totally make this dish vegan by leaving off the chicken (it’s substantial enough without it) or replacing it with tofu or soy beans, and replacing the fish sauce by more soy.

You can use whatever noodles you have on hand (spaghetti, ramen, etc). Don’t rinse any of them after you cook them because having a little of the cooking water will thin the dressing a little as well as help it stick to the noodles.

If you like spicy you can add sriracha, gochujang, cayenne powder, or red chili flakes to the dressing to taste.

Please don’t use pre-minced ginger and garlic. I know I can’t stop you, but please don’t hold me responsible when your dressing doesn’t have the same fresh zing to it. You’ll notice I purposely said grated garlic and ginger because I, too, have neither the knives nor the knife skills to mince garlic and ginger as fine as I’d like for dressing. So let me tell you my cheater secret: the microplane. I use this bad boy for garlic, ginger, citrus zest, parmesan cheese, nutmeg … you name it! To make my life easier, I like to keep ginger in my freezer because it actually grates up much easier when it’s frozen solid!

Feel free to change up the veggies. Use actual chopped broccoli if you can’t find the slaw. Add cabbage, zucchini, carrots, or onions. Try to cut everything so it is thin like your noodles. It makes the salad easier to eat, and helps the heat from the noodles wilt the veggies just a little.

If like me, you are not a huge fan of the flavors of sesame or peanut butter, don’t panic, the flavors are not too strong in this dressing. If you love those flavors you can always add extra to taste.

The salad is just as good cold as it is warm. The noodles may soak up some of the dressing if you have leftovers, so it’s good to keep a bit of extra dressing to toss with leftovers. Alternatively you can just mix up a bit of extra olive, vinegar, and soy to toss with any leftovers.