Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

By nlhartman

This salad has terrific texture, with crisp carrots and cucumber, tender noodles and crunchy peanuts. The secret's in the sauce, made from fragrant kitchen standbys.

Ingredients

• Dressing:
• 1 1/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced crosswise
• Spicy Asian Dressing(see below)
• Coarse salt
• 3 1/2 oz. Chinese rice noodles, broken in half if long
• 1 T. vegetable oil, such as safflower
• 2 carrots, sliced into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
• 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/4 c. fresh basil, torn
• Optional garnishes: bean sprouts, chopped peanuts, fresh mint leaves, red-pepper flakes and sliced green onion greens
• 4 green onion whites, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c. soy sauce
• 1/4 c. rice vinegar
• 2 T. light-brown sugar
• 1 T. fresh lime juice
• 1/2 t. minced canned anchovy(may want to leave out if you don't care for them)
• 1/2 t. red-pepper flakes

Details

Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 25mins

Preparation

Step 1

Place chicken and half of Spicy Asian Dressing in a reasealable plastic bag(reserve remaining dressing). Marinate at room temperature for 30 mintues(or refrigerate up to overnight).
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Transfer to a platter.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook chicken(do not crowd skillet) until cooked through, about 1-2 mintues; transfer to platter on on top of noodles.
Top with carrots, cucumber and basil. Drizzle with reserved dressing and sprinkle with garnishes, if desired.

Dressing:
In a medium bowl, combine green onoinn whites, garlic cloves, soy sauce, rice vinegar, light-brown sugar, lime juice, anchovy paste and red-pepper flakes.