Cooking Lesson #200 Thai Chicken Crunch Salad

A California Pizza Kitchen Hack

How you doin’? Wow! Today is a milestone event… this is the 200th edition of our Covid-19 Survival Guide Cooking Lessons. We hope you have enjoyed the recipes along with a little history about the foods you eat to be helpful. We know it has certainly helped us get through some long, difficult days when we had very little to do. We really do miss meeting up with our clients in person and helping them get through these times. We have been able to support many of them via phone and email. Still… it’s not the same.
 
We also really miss going out to restaurants. If you live in the Los Angeles area you already know that there is no inside or outside dining permitted due to Covid-19 restrictions. It’s kind of ironic since restaurants are some of the cleanest/sanitized and most policed institutions in all of commerce. The restaurant industry also employs more co-workers than any other single industry and yet very few politicians have come to their rescue.
 
Pre-pandemic, Joan and I would go to California Pizza Kitchen several times a month and usually order the same thing—Joan, Dakota Smashed Pea + Barley Soup and a small Mediterranean Salad and I would order the Sedona Tortilla Soup and the Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing.
 
Last week I started working on a recipe that closely matched the CPK Thai Crunch Chicken Salad. It’s a very healthy meal with a great crunch and a good amount of protein all dressed in a pungent Thai Peanut Dressing. It has lots of yummy, shredded nutrient-rich veggies like green and red cabbage, as well as carrots, red peppers, and edamame.
 
This Thai Chicken Crunch Salad is quick to toss together and makes a healthy, satisfying meal! I’ll let you be the judge as to whether you want to have it a couple times per month, too!
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Cook time:  10 minutes
Total Time:  25 minutes
Yield:  2 to 4 salads
 
Ingredients
For the Thai peanut dressing
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (I prefer Skippy)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1-1/2 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce (or low-sodium soy sauce)
1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
 
For the salad
3 cups Napa cabbage thinly sliced
1 cup red cabbage thinly sliced
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 cup cooked boneless, skinless shredded chicken breasts, (I save time by using leftover roasted chicken)
1/2 cup red, yellow or orange mild bell peppers, julienne cut
3 green onion stalks (the green part) finely sliced
3/4 cup shelled and chilled edamame
1/2 cup peanuts lightly crushed (support our country’s farmers—Grown in USA Peanuts)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, loosely packed
1/2 cup fried wonton shreds
1/4 cup fried (puffed) white rice noodle
3 sprigs of parsley for garnish
 
Directions
To make the Thai peanut dressing

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients until smooth.
2. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Set aside.

To make the salad

1. In a large salad bowl, toss together all ingredients except wontons, rice noodles and parsley.
2. Drizzle half of the Thai peanut dressing over the salad fixin’s and lightly toss again.
3. Top with the wontons and rice noodles.
4. Drizzle the remaining Thai peanut dressing over the greens, wonton strips and rice noodles.
5. Garnish with or parsley.

ChefSecret: I usually double the dressing recipe as I like a well-dressed salad with lots of extra peanut dressing on the side. It keeps well refrigerated.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “Things have gotten so bad… my cousin had an exorcism but couldn’t pay for it—they re-possessed her!”
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong and positive, stay well and safe and be kind to others. If you have a little extra in your pockets to share with others at this difficult time, please consider donating to Feeding America. Thanks for reading.

#Salad #ThaiChickenCrunchSalad #Chicken #Peanuts #NationalPeanutBoard #NPB #CPK #CaliforniaPizzaKitchen #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup

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