Asian Chicken Rice Noodle Salad

Rice noodles work when neither rice nor pasta will. A good rice noodle dish can often be served cool or at room temperature, and can carry a light zesty flavor while still being hearty and satisfying.

This recipe is from Food & Wine, and it's a great as a dinner for a crowd or a week's worth of lunches.

Asian Chicken Rice Noodle Salad

1 chicken breast (around 12 oz of meat)
8 oz rice noodles (a)

Dressing:
1 1/2 Tbl ginger, chopped
2 Thai chiles or 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 lg scallion, chopped
1 clove garlic, smashed
3 Tbl fish sauce
2 T lime juice
1 T sugar

Fixings:
2 carrots, shredded
6 lg radishes, sliced
1/3 cup cilantro, torn
1/3 cut mint, torn
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped

1. Roast chicken breast, and remove and chop meat. I usually just grab a whole breast and roast it at 425 or 450.

2. Cook noodles in boiling water, drain and cool.

3. In food processor or blender, combine garlic, ginger, chiles, and scallion. Finely chop.

4. Add fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar, and puree.

5. Mix noodles, veggies, herbs, chicken, and dressing. Top with peanuts.

Serves: 6-8.

Patrick's notes:

(a) Either pad thai noodles or rice stick noodles can be used. I use rice stick noodles with fine results.

(b) The chicken is of course optional. If you wanted to go all veggie, you could replace the fish sauce with a splash of soy sauce and maybe a touch of vinegar.

WW info: 12 pts chicken + 12 pts noodles + 4 pts peanuts + 1 pt sugar + 1 pt carrots / 6 servings = 5 pts per serving.

Posted by patrick on May 26, 2004 | TrackBack