Each week I get a lettuce in my organic veggie box, so much so that it feels like we have a never ending supply of the strange purple tinged slightly bitter lettuce.
As it tends to go slightly limp towards the end of the week, I decided to use it as much as possible this evening. Instead of making one of my typical chinese stir fries, I turned it in to more of a summery chinese-inspired salad. The strong flavours of the oil and the soy sauce help with the bitterness of the lettuce.
I have been making a basic salad like this for weeks now, with lettuce, tomatoes, and thinly peeled raw carrot. It works really well with a chinese dressing, normally we have it just on the side as part of a meal. But this time I decided to make chicken to go with the salad.
Blackened Chinese Chicken Salad
- 2 chicken breasts, each halved
- 3 teaspoons of Chinese 5 spice, I tend to just shake it on so I may use a little more than this in practice.
- 1 tablespoon of Soy Sauce (light if you have it)
- Salad leaves, I use lettuce or sometimes baby spinach leaves
- Tomatoes, it again depends on what goes into the box this time I used baby plum tomatoes.
- 1 carrot, use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer layer, then peel slices off the carrot turning as you go. Usually 1 carrot is too much for the salad so when it starts getting closer the core (where it goes much paler in colour) I freeze the rest of the carrot for use in stock.
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 tablespoon of sesame seed oil, try not to substitute this as it is the sesame seed oil that gives it a wonderful distinctive flavour
- Black pepper
Place the halved (longwise) chicken breasts in a bowl add the Chinese 5-spice and the soy sauce. Place either on a hot grill pan, or on a barbecue/grill. Leave till it starts to blacken before turning the chicken.
While the chicken is cooking make your salad, by washing the leaves, chopping the tomatoes and peeling the carrot. Add all the vegetables in to a bowl.
Make the dressing by mixing the soy sauce and the sesame seed oil. Pour over the rest of the salad, and toss to ensure everything is evenly coated.
Once the chicken is cooked cut into bit-sized chunks. I don’t tend to place the chicken in the same bowl as the salad, especially when the chicken is still hot as it tends to wilt the leaves.