Oriental Chicken Salad

We'll be having friends over in awhile, so I'm attempting a new salad recipe. I'm doing it almost exactly as described by Sarina A. Fores in the Assumption Cookbook. I just substituted the honey with syrup and added sesame seeds to the dressing. I also used salad-in-a-bag for the variety of lettuce leaves rather than the iceberg lettuce recommended in the original recipe; bagged salad tastes better and is better for your health. A doctor-friend told me that iceberg lettuce does not only, as some people already know, have zero nutrients in its leaves; to make things worse, eating iceberg lettuce is actually more harmful to your health than not eating a vegetable at all. Anyway, here's the salad recipe.

Ingredients:

2 pieces chicken breast, boiled or grilled, then cubed
1 pack salad-in-a-bag (approx. 200g)
20 wonton skins, sliced 1/2" and fried crisp
1 medium red bell pepper, slivered
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Dressing:
6 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp honey or syrup
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

Method:

1. Make dressing: combine all ingredients and mix with wire whisk. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Deep-fry wonton skins over medium to low fire until golden. Drain on paper towel

3. In a salad bowl, mix together chicken breast, lettuce and bell pepper. Toss with a little salad dressing. Add the wonton skins and peanuts and toss again with a little more dressing. Serve immediately.

Serves 4 - 6.

Update: Yummy salad!! I declare this recipe a success. I just crossed out the instruction to refrigerate the dressing, because when I did that, the dressing coagulated and I had to microwave it for 20 seconds to turn it back into a liquid dressing. I also cut down the number of sheets of wonton wrapper. Twenty would've been enough.

The dressing is very tasty, and you may want to keep the dressing recipe on hand for simple green salads as well.

We served this salad with Easy Stir-fried Beef in Oyster Sauce, Stemaed Fish and Chinese Sauce and steamed rice, for a Chinese-themed meal.

Easy Stir-fried Beef in Oyster Sauce

The original recipe is called "Gold Coin Easy Beef Stir-Fry by Elvira Mesina-Broekhuizen." We made some changes for the Palacios kitchen.

300g beef tenderloin cut into strips
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice wine, optional
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce

1. Marinate the beef in soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, rice wine and sesame oil for at least 1 hour.
2. Heat cooking oil in a wok. Fry tenderloin on medium to high heat until brown. Right before turning off heat, add oyster sauce to beef and stir quickly. Mix well and transfer to serving dish.

Serves 3.

Marinating time: 1 hour
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 - 15 minutes

Serve with steamed white rice and vegetables.

Steamed Fish and Chinese Sauce

The original recipe is called "Quick Steamed Fish" by Annie Lim-Kawpeng, from the Assumption Cookbook. We made some changes for the Palacios kitchen.

500 grams fish fillet: lapu-lapu, tilapia or trout OR 1 whole fish (500 grams)
slices of ginger
green onions or leeks

Sauce:
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp Chinese soy sauce
6 tbsp water
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp rice wine
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Topping:
shredded green onions or leeks
1 tbsp oil
roasted crushed garlic (optional)

1. Put a few slits in the fish. Lay fish on green onion leaves. Insert sliced ginger in the slits and under the fish. Cover with more green onion leaves.
2. Steam fish until done OR microwave on high (2-1/2 to 3 minutes for fillets; 4-1/2 to 5 minutes for whole fish) until fish is tender. Do not overcook. Discard green onions, ginger and fish stock.
3. Combine all sauce ingredients. Heat in a saucepan over fire OR microwave for 35 seconds.
4. Put cooked fish in a serving platter. Pour sauce over the fish. Top the fish with shredded green onions and garlic. Heat oil until smoky and pour very hot oil over the greens. Serve immediately.

Serves 3.

Total cooking and preparation time: 15 minutes if you use the microwave; 30 minutes if you use a steamer