Mama LoPresti's Chinese Chicken Salad

Britesea

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My sister-in-law gave me this recipe as a wedding gift thirty years ago; but over the years I've tweaked it a bit. The stuff I've added will be marked "optional" if you want to try the original first.

This recipe makes a lot of salad!

Ingredients:
Dressing
1/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/3 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons sesame oil
2/3 cup salad oil
2 tsp mustard powder mixed with a little water to make a paste (optional)

Salad
1 "flake" of rice sticks, fried in 400F peanut oil until it puffs up (darn near instantaneous)
2-3 heads iceberg lettuce, sliced very thinly
6 green onions, sliced
Chopped cilantro, to taste (optional- I use one whole bunch)
2-3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
2 whole chicken breasts, cubed and sauteed in a mix of peanut and toasted sesame oil
1 bag crispy chow mein noodles (optional)
Couple of handfuls of roasted salted peanuts (optional)

Add dressing to salad ingredients and toss thoroughly (you will need a very large bowl!)
 

Britesea

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Their big secret was using the red wine vinegar. Most chinese chicken salad recipes use rice vinegar, but they found the red wine vinegar gave it a slightly different taste that people really liked.
 

baymule

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I live in a small town with slim pickings for groceries. What is a rice stick? Recipe sounds good, BTW.
 

Britesea

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if your grocery store has an asian section, they are probably in there. Filipinos call them "long rice".
Just make sure you get the thin ones- they look a little like angel hair pasta
rice sticks.jpg

If the grocery store doesn't carry them, you can buy them online... I know that Amazon.com carries them.
Each bag usually has 3 or so 'flakes' (just like hay flakes, lol). Typically, I will fry up the whole bag and separate them into gallon size zip-lock bags. They will stay good for a couple of weeks without going rancid.
 

baymule

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Ohhhhhh.........duh.....WalMart has those. I thought they were rice noodles. I just wasn't making the connection. :lol:
 
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