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:
Great idea to use the glass noodles. They are an excellent addition to the salad to replace the meat. I liked this one too!
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!
What a wonderful idea to make this with glass noodles, Andrea! This salad is so flavorful - yours looks really delicious!
It looks soooo good with the noodles!
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.
LOVE glass noodles! I bet the kids loved it too!
~Cat
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!
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!
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!
Ooh, the noodles and mushrooms were great additions. Wish I'd thought of them.
Your salad looks lovely! I especially like the noodles and mushrooms. I also thought the dressing was delicious.
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