Crispy Chicken Salad

This salad turned out to be real tasty.  I highly recommend eating it.

The Chicken:

1 small chicken breast

About 8 saltine crackers

½ cup flour

1 egg

The Dressing:

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon peanut butter

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

¼ teaspoon chili paste (less or none at all if desired, I like it spicy)

1 teaspoon soy sauce

The Salad:

Romaine lettuce

Shredded carrots and cabbage

½ small can of mandarin oranges

5 cherry tomatoes, halved

¼ cup shelled edamame (follow cooking on package)

2-3 wonton  wrappers, cut into strips (optional)

 1. .Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Crush saltine crackers into fine bits and mix with flour in a small dish, set aside.  Whisk egg into small bowl season with salt and pepper and set aside.  Cut chicken into bite size pieces and coat in the flour/cracker mixture.  Dip chicken into egg, fully saturating it and then again in the flour/cracker mixture and refrigerate.

3. Spray a small baking dish with cooking oil, place wonton strips and bake until golden brown 7 or so minutes. 

4.Heat a small skillet over medium high heat with a couple of tablespoons of oil and cook chicken until golden brown, or cooked through.

5. Cook edamame.

6. Make the dressing by whisking the hoisin sauce, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili paste together in a small bowl.  Set aside.

7. Once chicken is cooked toss in a bowl with lettuce, carrots, cabbage and dressing until well coated.  Plate your salad and top with tomatoes, oranges and wonton strips. 

There are all kinds of variations you can make with this salad.  Use grilled chicken instead for a healthier approach.  Mix up the veggies, substituting your favorites.  I usually pick my ingredients based on color.  I’ll be honest with you.  I like my food to be pretty.  A meal should always have something green, red or orange, and a neutral color in my opinion.  By doing this I am able to trick myself into eating somewhat healthy.   I try not to overdo my ingredients though, paring it down to a few for maximum flavor explosion.  If there is too much going on in a dish, it tends to overpower the thing I like most about it.  In this salad, the dressing is the real winner.  I wouldn't add anything to the salad that could possibly compete with the flavor of the dressing. 

Turns out when you purchase wonton wrappers, there are at least 50 in the package.  So you will certainly see something in the wrapped variety for at least one more recipe.