Asian Chicken Salad

Asian Chicken Salad

Choose your lettuce - I used red leaf lettuce, but romaine would be good, as well.  Use the type and amount you like!  

Wonton wrappers (cut them in strips to fry)

canola oil (for frying wonton wrappers)

sliced almonds (toasted)

sunflower seeds

1 large can mandarin oranges (reserve juice to cook the chicken in)

3 chicken breasts (for a large family size salad)

fresh cilantro (optional - I honestly didn’t care for it very much)

Dressing

3 Tablespoons of ReaLime (or the juice of 1 lime)

8 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons sesame oil

6 tablespoons soy sauce

1/3 cup brown sugar

ginger - about 1 teaspoon

garlic - 2 cloves finely chopped (or about 1 teaspoon garlic powder)

First I put a shallow layer of canola oil in the skillet, got it hot and then put several sliced wonton strips in to fry for about 30 seconds (no longer) until golden.  They cook really quickly, so just put 6 or 7 strips in at a time.  Drain/dry them on a paper towel and put aside for later.

Next, cook your chicken breasts.  I used the juice from the can of mandarin oranges to cook the chicken breasts in.  It gave the chicken a nice, light, fruity flavor that was really nice.  Just dump the juice in the skillet, put the chicken in, cover and cook on medium high, turning periodically.  Cut chicken on the bias in thin strips.

Basically, assemble your salad fixings - either together, or in separate bowls so that folks can build their own.  I toasted the sliced almonds in the toaster oven until light golden.

Assemble the dressing.  I ended up putting the dressing ingredients in my blender to thoroughly mix together.  That worked really nicely and the dressing stayed together well.  However, I believe you could also whisk it heavily and it would work well.