Thursday, April 9, 2009

Chinese Glass Noodle Salad


Our first Barefoot Bloggers recipe for April is Ina's Chinese Chicken Salad, picked by McKenzie of Kenzie’s Kitchen. To make this vegetarian I swapped out the chicken for some Chinese "glass noodles" also known as cellophane noodles or bean threads. I also played with the veggies in this recipe a little bit, swapping asparagus for green pepper (because the asparagus at the grocery just was not looking good) and adding some mushrooms I had hanging out in the fridge. The dressing for this salad is a yummy combination of peanut butter, apple cider vinegar, honey, soy sauce, toasted sesame seed oil, garlic, ginger, and a couple other ingredients. This recipe is so easy to adapt to taste, and Ina's base ingredients give a great flavor, as usual with Barefoot Contessa recipe!


Here are the glass noodles, you soak them in hot water for 20 minutes, no actual cooking required. They expand a ton and have a neat slightly chewy texture. These are the same noodles you find Korean Jap Chae and also in spring rolls, one of my very favorite treats :)


I slightly sauteed my peppers and mushrooms before tossing with the noodles and dressing.


And there you have it, a nice and noodley simple lunch salad.

11 comments:

Deb in Hawaii said...

Great idea to use the glass noodles. They are an excellent addition to the salad to replace the meat. I liked this one too!

Jackie said...

I also love the idea of using glass noodles in this! Even keeping the chicken, I think the glass noodles would add an additional level of depth to the dish.

Cheers!

Cathy said...

What a wonderful idea to make this with glass noodles, Andrea! This salad is so flavorful - yours looks really delicious!

Jamie said...

It looks soooo good with the noodles!

chocolatechic said...

I wasn't able to find sesame seeds in this area.

I wish that I had played around with the veggies. Another one used fresh snow peas. I thought that would be a great idea.

Anonymous said...

LOVE glass noodles! I bet the kids loved it too!

~Cat

NKP said...

My favourite kind of warm weather fare - sunshine in a bowl! I love noodles, and if there is chicken and Asian flavours involved.. even better!

EmmyJMommy said...

Great recipe alteration! I have never made "glass noodles", but it sounds like a great light rice alternative. We like to eat lighter during the hot weather Alabama has during the summer!

Elyse said...

I love your use of the glass noodles. They're so magical! Plus, I adore green peppers, so that was a great sub-in. What a delicious looking dish!

Rebecca of "Ezra Pound Cake" said...

Ooh, the noodles and mushrooms were great additions. Wish I'd thought of them.

Michele said...

Your salad looks lovely! I especially like the noodles and mushrooms. I also thought the dressing was delicious.

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