Chinese Chicken Salad

To counteract the delicious blueberry coffe cake that I made on Sunday, I've been eating salads for the past two days. Hardly a sacrifice. I love salads and this one is a favorite. I've actually made this salad three times since New Year's Eve when we had it with won tons. When the kids were at home, our New Year's Eve consisted on making won tons with Chinese Chicken Salad. I'd almost forgotten how good this salad is. It's fun to make, too, because you use these Mai Fun Chinese rice sticks fried in hot oil. Sometimes they are called Rice Thread Noodles.

Once you drop them in the hot oil, they immediately puff up into crunchy, Chinese-style croutons.

It's always a thrill to make these and then drop them into the salad to add some crunch. Kids love this salad because when you make these rice noodles, it's like they come alive. Like the name implies, so much Fun!

Makes 4 servings

1/2 head shredded iceberg lettuce

2 Tbsp. almonds, chopped

2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

1/2 lb. cooked, skinned chicken breast

1/2 cup frozen peas

1-2 oz. Mai Fun sticks or Rice Thread noodles

1. Combine above ingredients except Mai Fun sticks.

2.. Heat oil in a pan. When oil is sizzling hot, add one Mai Fun stick to test if oil is hot enough. It should puff up immediately. If not, let oil continue to heat up.

3. When oil is hot enough, drop a handful of Mai Fun sticks into oil.

and watch them puff up immediately.

4. Remove immediately with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.

5. While Mai Fun sticks are cooling, make dressing by combining together:

1/4 cup oil

3 Tbsp. white vinegar

2 Tbsp. sugar

juice of one lemon

1/2 tsp. pepper

6. When Mai Fun sticks are cool, drop into salad and toss.

(You can see that if you don't remove them immediately, they quickly start to brown but will still taste good)

7. Pour dressing over salad and toss together.

If you don't plan to eat all of it, do not mix dressing into salad but serve on the side. Otherwise, the leftover salad will become wilted and soggy. But this salad is so good there usually is not leftovers.

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