Asian Cabbage Salad with Poached Chicken

By Krimkus

Asian cabbage salads (sometimes referred to as Chinese cabbage salads) have been around for years, and for good reasons . . .

  • They’re quick and inexpensive to make for a crowd, thus perfect for barbecues and picnics.
  • They aren’t mayonnaise based (at least not the versions I’ve made), so they can withstand a bit of time on the buffet table.
  • People love the combination of seasonings. Usually sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, etc.
Thus the reason that you’ll find more than a few Asian salads on my blog. 

The version we made when I was raising kids was very much like the one I found for you on Cooks.com. You buy a package of cabbage and a package of ramen noodle soup. The noodles are broken up into the cabbage, and a dressing is made with the seasoning packet. It was a crowd pleaser, but these days I prefer a fresher salad, so I added just about every vegetable I had in the bin. Bell peppers, carrots and bean sprouts all went into the bowl. As I poached a few chicken breasts in garlic and chicken broth, I combined sesame oil, grape seed oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, honey and ginger in a jar and shook it like crazy to combine. If you aren’t familiar with poaching, this tutorial from thekitchn will get you started, or just follow my directions below. Don’t be intimidated by the ingredient list, okay? It’s all chop and drop, and shake it up in a jar. All that chopping and dropping and salad dressing making is a great work out for your arms! I sliced the chicken and plated it on the side, but you could just as easily cube it and toss it into the mix. Maybe even skip the chicken, and make it a side for your next barbecue. This Asian cabbage salad can stand on it’s own with the pile of veggies I threw into the bowl. There you are! My classic Asian cabbage salad. If you haven’t tried one yet, skip the version I made in my earlier days of cooking, and make this. It’s anything but ho-hum. ~Kristi

PrintAsian Salad with Poached Chicken

Serving Size: 4

Shake It Up! If you don't want to make your own dressing, or if you are missing ingredients for the dressing and don't want to buy them, Newman's Own makes a Sesame Ginger vinaigrette that is amazing. It makes a wonderful marinade for chicken and seafood too.

Ingredients

  • 4 cloves garlic, halved
  • 1 inch ginger, peeled and cut into pieces
  • ¼ large onion, sliced into large pieces
  • 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 pound chicken breasts, breast filets (4 ea)
  • 14 ounces cabbage, shredded
  • 1 cup carrots, shredded
  • 4 ounces mung bean sprouts
  • 1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips 2" long
  • 6 large green onion, sliced
  • 1 cup cilantro, chopped
  • ½ tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
  • 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 ½ teaspoon chili garlic sauce, more if you like heat
  • 1 ½ tablespoon honey
  • ½ teaspoon ginger, finely chopped
  • ¼ cup black sesame seeds

Instructions

  1. Heat a large saucepan over high heat with onion, garlic, ginger, chicken broth, water and soy sauce. Reduce heat to medium low and add chicken breasts. Cover pan and simmer for 15 - 25 minutes until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.
  2. Combine cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, peppers, onion and cilantro in a large bowl.
  3. Combine sesame oil, grape seed oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, honey and ginger in a jar and shake to combine. Toss over salad ingredients.
  4. Slice chicken and serve over salad with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds.

Notes

Food energy: 374kcal Weight Watchers PointsPlus 9 Saturated fatty acids: 2.32g Monounsaturated fatty acids: 4.76g Polyunsaturated fatty acids: 6.74g Total fat: 13.82g Calories from fat: 124 Cholesterol: 72mg Carbohydrate, by difference: 30.16g Total dietary fiber: 8.69g Protein: 32.37g Total lipid (fat): 15.45g Water: 513.95g Ash: 6.88g Total sugars: 14.37g Calcium: 262mg Iron: 5.11mg Magnesium: 126mg Phosphorus: 445mg Potassium: 1189mg Sodium: 1033mg

2.5http://motherrimmy.com/recipe-asian-cabbage-salad-poached-chicken/Mother Rimmy�s Cooking Light Done Right by Kristin A. Rimkus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
What do you put in your cabbage salads? Leave a comment and share. I’m always looking for new ideas!