A taste of the West: Chinese chicken salad - includes recipe

Sunset, July, 1995 by Jerry Anne Di Vecchio

Even best-liked dishes ride waves of popularity, and with each reincarnation come subtle differences. Right now, the star is Chinese chicken salad.

Curious, I looked through back issues of Sunset to see how this salad has evolved. The first recipe dates to 1957, and over the years we toyed with variations until publishing our most-requested version, from Ming's Restaurant in Palo Alto, California, in November 1970. It was distinguished by fried cellophane noodles that exploded into puffy wisps.

Then last summer, Fred Halpert of Brava Terrace in St. Helena, California, asked me to come and try the unusual tomato varieties he's been growing next to the restaurant. After our appetites were whetted by his crop, we sat down to lunch. There it was - Chinese chicken salad. It was so refreshing, it inspired this simpler, equally refreshing version. He's brought back cellophane noodles, but saturated them with flavor instead of with frying oil. Baby greens replace iceberg lettuce. The chicken is contemporary, too. You can roast it ahead, or quick-start the dish with a cooked bird from the market. Want another plus? This version is low in fat. Thanks, Fred.

Chinese Chicken Salad

Cooking time: 15 to 20 minutes

Prep time: 35 to 40 minutes

Notes: Look for cellophane noodles and Oriental sesame oil at well-stocked supermarkets and Asian grocery stores.

Makes: 6 servings

4 or 5 ounces cellophane noodles (saifun, made of bean or yam, not rice) 1/2 pound Chinese pea pods, strings removed 1/2 cup rice vinegar 3 tablespoons soy sauce 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon dry mustard mixed until smooth with 1 tablespoon water 1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil 2 1/2 to 3 cups boned and skinned cooked chicken 1 tablespoon salad oil 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1 cup thinly silvered red onion 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 large (1/2 lb. each) red or yellow bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and diced About 6 cups tender salad greens, rinsed and crisped 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) Cilantro leaves

1. In a 4- to 6-quart pan, bring about 2 quarts water to boiling. Add noodles and return to boiling, stirring once. Remove from heat and let stand until tender to bite, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into a colander and, with scissors, snip noodles to make shorter strands. Drain at least 10 minutes.

2. In the same pan, bring 6 cups water to boiling on high heat, Add peas and cook just until bright green, about 1 minute. Drain, and at once immerse in ice water until cold; drain.

3. Mix rice vinegar, soy, ginger, sugar, mustard mixture, and sesame oil. Tear chicken into thin strips, discarding fat.

4. Pour 1 tablespoon oil into a wok or 12-inch frying pan over high heat. Add garlic and stir-fry until pale gold, about 1 minute. Add onion, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons water. Stir-fry until liquid evaporates and onion is limp, about 3 minutes; scoop from pan with a slotted spoon; add to chicken.

5. To pan, add peppers and 2 tablespoons water; stir-fry over high heat just until peppers are barely limp, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, scoop peppers into a small bowl. If making ahead, chill onion, chicken, and peppers up to 4 hours.

6. Shake noodles in colander to remove last drops of water, then pour into a bowl and mix with about 1/3 of the dressing.

7. Mix salad greens with all but 1 tablespoon of the chopped cilantro and arrange on a large platter. Mound noodles on greens. Arrange chicken mixture, peas, and peppers on and around noodles. Top with remaining dressing and sprinkle with remaining chopped cilantro. Mix well. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Per serving: 301 cal. (85 cal., 28% from fat); 20 g protein; 9.4 g fat (1.8 g sat.); 33 g carbo.; 587 mg sodium; 52 mg chol.

BACK TO BASICS

A cucumber primer

A cucumber is cool. That's a fact. Its interior temperature may be up to 20[degrees] cooler than the surrounding air, and it's 96 percent water, so its chilly, thirst-quenching character is not just imagined. I grew up with the dark green so-called market cucumber that produced progeny at a furious rate in our summer garden. Because our cucumbers came right off the vine, we peeled them only when the skin was bitter or a little leathery (a bite told us), and scooped out the seeds when they got hard enough to notice. One of my first kitchen jobs was scoring the sides of cucumbers with a fork so they would have what I considered a chic variegated edge when sliced.

In today's markets, most dark green cucumbers have a thin edible film on them to keep them fresh longer. If the film isn't the old-fashioned heavier wax, it won't be noticeable after rinsing, so there's no need to peel cucumbers unless the skin is bitter.

Other cucumber choices include the long, tender-skinned dark green English (also called burpless or European), which is usually hothouse grown and sealed in a plastic sleeve (instead of coated), and its pale green counterpart, the Armenian Cucumber. Both are very mild-tasting. Also suited to salads is the skinny Japanese cucumber, the stubby Sfran (a shorter, fatter version of market cukes), and the lemon (in color and shape) cucumber. The pickling cucumber is firmer.