Chicken Noodle Salad (Ji Shi Liang Mein)

When my husband came home from work and announced he had a present for me, I couldn’t have been happier when he presented me with Ken Hom and Ching-He Huang’s Exploring China, which is the book to accompany the series which is currently on BBC2 on Sunday evenings. I already have books by both these cookbook authors and another one is very welcome. I immediately began looking through to decide what to make first. I’d just done a big supermarket shop so I was looking for something that did not require any ingredients I didn’t have. Luckily I had everything for this salad. Now, I usually eat noodles hot and so I wasn’t quite sure about it. I was secretly tempted to serve it hot anyway, but I resisted. In fact, the good thing about it was that it was a salad so I could prepare it earlier in the day and didn’t have to do everything in the evening. What I loved most was the peanut sauce and even though my husband doesn’t like peanut butter, he also thought it was a great dish.

I made one or two changes to the original recipe. I added spring onions and used a fresh chilli pepper.  I also used fewer noodles but think there were still a few too many. We both had huge portions, which didn’t bother us, but if you have a smaller appetite, then just 100g would be enough for two people.

Ingredients – serves 2

150g egg noodles (would only use 100g next time)
200g chicken
1 carrot
100g cucumber
3 spring onions
1 small red chilli pepper
Handful of coriander (cilantro)
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Dressing Ingredients
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp clear rice vinegar
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp water
Juice of 1/2 lemon

How to Make Chicken Noodle Salad

1. Poach the chicken and leave to cool.
2. Cook the noodles according to instructions on the packet. Drain. Rinse in cold water and then stir in the sesame oil to prevent them from sticking together.
3. Using a mandolin or vegetable peeler, peel the carrot and cucumber into strips. Chop the spring onions, slice the chilli and chop the herbs. Reserve a little of the chopped coriander and put the rest of these ingredients in a bowl with the noodles.
4. Mix all the ingredients for the dressing. Beat with a fork to combine well.
5. Combine the dressing with the noodles. Stir well so the dressing coats everything. Divide between two plates.
6. Shred the chicken with two forks and put it on top of the noodles. Scatter the reserved coriander on the top and serve.

About these ads