Delicious, healthy Asian-inspired dinner that everyone in the family enjoys. I’ve made some minor modifications to the recipe over the years, but generally hew to the original which hails from from my long-gone Bon Appetit magazine subscription. You can save time by buying a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken at the grocery store rather than preparing the baked chicken yourself. I serve this salad with a crusty loaf of sliced, warm bread.
Serves 6 as a main course and 10-12 for a lunch.
INGREDIENTS:
- 8 baby bok choy washed and separated into leaves
- 1 baked rotisserie chicken, cut up into bite size pieces
- 1 English cucumber
- 1 medium sized head of romaine chopped into salad size bites
- 1/2 cup roasted, salted cashews – broken into pieces
- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
Dressing:
- 4 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 4 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
DIRECTIONS:
- Cut English cucumber into 1″ wide rounds, then cut each round wedge into match stick pieces.
- Chop hearts of romaine head into small bite sized pieces for salad.
- Finely chop a 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro.
- Blanch bok choy in a 4-6 quart pot of boiling water until just wilted but still bright green, about 30 seconds. Drain in a colander, then rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Drain well and press out extra water. Set aside.
- Prepare salad dressing:
- Whisk together rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, black pepper and chinese five-spice powder.
- Then add vegetable oil and sesame oil in a slow stream while whisking.
- Stir in toasted sesame seeds.
- Toss cut up chicken, cucumber match sticks, chopped romaine, and chopped cilantro in a large salad bowl with a 1/4-1/3 cup salad dressing. Dress sparingly so the salad stays crunchy.
- Arrange a large scoop of the tossed salad in the center of the plate. Put a ring of the blanched bok chop around the salad. Drizzle an additional ring of the salad dress on the bok choy.
- Sprinkle cashew pieces on the center of the salad and serve with slices of warm, crusty bread.