Laurie's Chinese Chicken Salad With 5-Spice Dressing

I love Chinese chicken salad and have tried many recipes over the years. This is my favorite. I think it’s the 5-spice powder that sets it apart from the others. I got the recipe from my friend Laurie. You do need cook the chicken and make the dressing the night before as it needs to marinate overnight. If you have little ones, they love to watch the “magic” Mai Fun noodles as they hit the oil. This travels well, great for the beach or park. I package each prepared ingredient into separate containers and baggies, and my prepared lettuce goes into a large Tupperware container. When it’s time to eat, everything is tossed in with the lettuce. Add a nice baguette and you have an instant lunch or supper. Note: You will not need all 6 ozs. of the Mai Fun noodles; I have only found them in 6 ozs packages. Just fry as much as you think you would like in your salad. You may also want to start with less sugar in your dressing and adjust the sweetness to our tastes. You can buy toasted almonds and sesame seeds or toast them yourself in a frying pan, until fragrant.

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Salad

• 2  boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1  head red leaf lettuce, large (washed, dried, and torn into bite size pieces)
• 3  scallions, thinly sliced
• 1  medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced
• 2  stalks celery, sliced diagonally
• 3  tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
• 3  tablespoons  slivered almonds, toasted
• 6  ounces  mai fun  rice noodles, sometimes called rice sticks
•  peanut oil, for frying Mai Fun noodles

• Dressing

• 5 -6  tablespoons sugar
• 7  tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2  teaspoons salt
• 1  teaspoon msg (optional)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1  teaspoon lemon juice
• 1⁄4 teaspoon five-spice powder
• 1⁄4 cup  vegetable oil

Directions

1. The night before serving or early in the morning, place all salad dressing ingredients into a jar with a lid. Shake until well blended and set aside to meld.
2. Steam chicken breasts for about 20 minuets, or until juices run clear, let cool.
3. Shred cooled chicken into small pieces and mix well with about 2 tablespoons of the dressing. You may use more or less, depending on how much chicken you have. You don't want to saturate it with too much dressing.
4. Refrigerate chicken and dressing over night.
5. You can fry the Mai Fun now or the next day.
6. To fry the Mai Fun noodles:
7. Heat oil to 350°F.
8. Break apart noodles and fry a small amount at a time and drain on paper towels or a paper grocery bag. If you have never fried Mai Fun, they immediately expand to the top of the wok as soon as they hit the oil, so doing this in small batches is important.
9. Before serving, lightly toss all ingredients together without adding the dressing. This is important because the Mai Fun noodles will quickly absorb your dressing.
10. Pour on dressing and toss again.