Chinese Chicken Salad

In honor of Chinese New Year this week, I thought I'd post one of our favorite not-really-Chinese-at-all recipes.

Chinese Chicken Salad
inspired by an old recipe from Southern Living June 2003

1/3 cup light olive oil
2 T sesame oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp pepper (white if you have it)
leftover chicken...we eat about 1/2 roasted chicken for this, but whatever your family likes..shredded
1 head romaine lettuce
1/2-1 head napa cabbage (depends on size; you want about half and half with lettuce)
1 can mandarin oranges
1/2 bunch scallions, sliced into 1 inch pieces, smaller towards the white
1 package ramen noodles, seasoning packet discarded, and crumbled into small pieces
1/2 cup sliced almonds

To make the dressing, whisk together the oils, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings (salt, sugar, pepper) if needed.

To make the salad, add lettuce, cabbage, chicken, oranges, scallions, almonds, and ramen to a large bowl. Toss with dressing and serve immediately.

Indian Mexican Fusion

I checked out a great cookbook from the library last week, 660 Curries. I love, love, love some good Indian food. I also love, love, love some good Mexican food. So, when I saw the recipe for Mexican Indian fusion, using flavors from both, I knew that I had to have it. This recipe takes some time. It requires making the sauce, preparing the peppers, making the batter, then frying. But it's so. worth. it. One of the best new recipes I've tried in a long time.

Potato-Stuffed Peppers in a guajillo chile sauce
For the sauce:
12 dried guajillo chiles
3 cups boiling water
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 t toasted cumin-coriander blend (I used 1 t of each, but you can buy this as dhania-jeera masala)
1 t salt

For the peppers:
1 pound potatoes, boiled and mashed
1 t salt
1/4 cup cilantro
4 cloves garlic
4 fresh green chiles
6 large poblanos or anaheims (but tailor this for your crowd; count on 1-2 per person)

For the batter:
1 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 t salt
1/2 t turmeric
3/4 cup warm water (I needed a little more)

Canola oil for frying
2 T cilantro for garnish

To make the sauce, soak the guajillos in the water until soft (about 20 minutes). Take them out and blend until smooth (in a blender), adding most of the 3 cups of water. Strain into a saucepan, then add the salt, cilantro, and spices. Simmer until it's thick enough for a sauce (I just left mine simmering slowly on a back burner while I made the rest of the recipe).

To make the peppers, roast, peel, and then remove the seeds of the peppers. The original recipe called for them raw, but we just prefer roasted and peeled. It's all good. In a food processor, grind the cilantro, garlic, and peppers until very finely chopped. Mix that into the potatoes along with the salt. Then, stuff the peppers with the potato mixture and set aside.

Mix the batter, adding the water slowly, until you get sort of a thick pancake batter. You want it to cling to the peppers.

Heat the oil, and when ready to fry, dip a pepper into the batter, then place into the hot oil. My skillet holds two poblanos at a time, so that's how many I did. Fry until golden brown (cause everything is already cooked; you're just frying the batter). Drain on paper towels.

To serve, top each pepper with the sauce and some cilantro. Enjoy!

Today, I'm linked to Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Check it out!

Meal Plan 1/23

Another week, another meal plan.

Tuesday: red chili

Wednesday: potluck (we're taking salad)

Thursday: black bean burgers, chips, salad

Friday: potato stuffed peppers in a guajillo chile sauce (recipe coming tomorrow!), rice, beans

Saturday: bean and rice burritos with green chiles (lunch), ribeye, chard, salad, baked potatoes (supper)

Sunday: pasta with broccoli (lunch), sweet potato black bean chili (supper)

Monday: Moe's Monday (I promised my kids that if they'd eat cheap stuff all week, I'd save out enough money for this, which they adore. Lots of beans this week, only to eat more beans at a restaurant. Go figure. )

Meal Plan Monday

It feels like we need a bit of reality thrown in amongst the new toys and fun and change in schedule, so a meal plan is a great way to get that started.

Monday: big turkey dinner--turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, squash casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, broccoli and rice casserole, rolls

Tuesday: leftovers (yay!)

Wednesday: turkey tettrazini

Thursday: maybe out for Mexican??

Friday: finger food party--inspired by LifeasaMom's mocktail party--artichoke dip, celery/carrots with hummus, stuffed mushrooms, meatballs

Saturday: barbecue shrimp, salad, bread

Sunday: brunch; collards, black eyed peas, rice, cornbread; Texas caviar for a potluck birthday party we're going to


I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was wonderful, and I'm happy to be back in the throes of normal. I can almost see and touch our regular routine! Co-op starts next week... Vacation ends for my husband.... And maybe, just maybe, my toilets will be clean on a regular basis (well, a girl can dream!). Merry Christmas everyone!