Asian Chicken & Cabbage Salad with Sriracha, Black Sesame Seeds & Fried Eggs
This salad is super delicious. I should just leave it there, but I'll expound.
Salad for dinner rarely ever piques my interest. Salad is for lunch when I don't have leftovers to take, or as a side when I go out for dinner, but never the main event, in my mind. For some reason, it seems like such a to-do to make a good, hearty salad (despite the fact that I'll spend hours preparing much more intricate meals on any given night). Sometimes I need to break down tasks in my mind to make them seem more manageable and so I'll do that for you (and me) now: Make a dressing, chop some cabbage, cook a chicken breast, fry an egg. Done!
I adapted this recipe to create this light, lovely and relatively simple entree salad that won't leave you feeling like you ate bunny food for dinner.
Asian Chicken & Cabbage Salad with Sriracha, Black Sesame Seeds & Fried Eggs
Serves: 2 (with leftovers)
Preparation Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 tbsp. oil (I used a canola coconut oil blend)
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. lime juice
1 tsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. Chinese black vinegar (or balsamic)
1 tsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
salt/pepper, to taste
1 large chicken breast, trimmed of fat
1 small napa or savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
1 c. bagged slaw (I like and used the organic broccoli slaw at Trader Joe's)
3 tbsp. black sesame seeds, lightly toasted
2 eggs
Sriracha sauce, to serve (optional)
Method:
1. Mix first ten ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until well-combined. Taste to see if it is to your liking and add salt/pepper to taste. Pour just enough of the dressing to coat the chicken in another bowl or ziploc bag. Let the chicken marinate for about 30 minutes and start preparing the rest of the meal.
2. Slice cabbage thinly and place in a large bowl. Add the slaw and toss. Quickly toast the sesame seeds in an un-oiled pan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. This should only take a few minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and then add to the cabbage and slaw bowl.
3. Assess the amount of dressing left in the bowl. If it seems to be enough for the cabbage and slaw, add to the bowl and toss. If there doesn't seem to be enough, add a tiny bit more of each of the dressing ingredients until it is to your liking and there is enough to dress the salad. If you end up making too much, you can save it for another salad or marinade!
4. After about 30 minutes (give or take) of marinating the chicken, either grill or pan fry the chicken until it is cooked through. I pan-fried mine over high heat and poured the marinade into the pan. Once the chicken was cooked through, and the marinade had reduced down, I rubbed the chicken into any leftover sauce, somewhat cleaning out the pan. Once chicken is cooked through, remove from pan and cut into bite-sized slices. Place atop the salad.
5. If you pan-fried the chicken, go ahead and use the same pan to fry the eggs. I added a tiny bit of coconut oil cooking spray to the pan and brought it to medium-high heat again before frying. You want them to be somewhat runny (over-medium). Once done, remove from heat and place atop the salad. Drizzle Sriracha sauce over the salad (if desired) and serve.
