Thai Chop Chop Salad

I know I sold you on my ramen salad a couple of weeks ago but this variation of an Asian chopped salad is my absolute favorite. The spicy peanut chicken can also be used to make stir-fry, pad thai and many other dishes but I like the zip it gives to this salad as well. I always make this marinade when I have a jar of PB that is at the end of its life. I don’t really measure the PB and I pour the rest of the contents for the marinade into the jar, screw the top on and shake it well to help pull the PB off the sides. I use a knife to scrape the rest off and continue to shake until I get most of the excess butter off of the jar. The marinade will last in your fridge for a week so you can always make it on a weekend and then save it for a quick week night stir fry dinner!

This salad does need a ton of prep work (everything is chopped so small) but I just love the way it looks like a bowl of confetti. I also like the extra crunchy texture brought by the cabbage and noodle mixture. While I am not a fan of eating a dressed salad as leftovers I will make an exception for this one because It still manages to hold a decent amount of texture instead of turning to a sloppy mess. Since a head of cabbage is actually a lot of food for two adults and one little guy, I always end up with way too much cabbage mixture so I end up saving the extras and using it to make chicken lettuce wraps or stir fry the next night.

1 Napa cabbage, thinly sliced

3 carrots, grated

1 red pepper, diced

1 cucumber, diced

1 pint of yellow grape tomatoes, chopped

3 spring onions, diced

½ C basil, chopped

½ C mint, chopped

1 package of ramen noodles, smashed

1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken

Asian Peanut Marinade:

½ C peanut butter (approximate)

½ C soy sauce

¼ C lime juice

¼ C rice wine vinegar

1 tbs Sriracha **adjust for your heat preference level

1 tbs Ketchup (helps thicken the marinade)

Sesame Dressing:

¼ C rice wine vinegar

2 tbs agave

2 tbs sesame oil

1 tbs sesame seeds

S&P

Marinade your chicken for up to 24 hours. Chop all the ingredients of the salad and toss in a bowl. Reserve some of the veggie mixture for a future recipe before adding the noodles. Grill and dice chicken. Add chicken and crunched noodles to the salad mixture and toss with sesame dressing. Garnish with additional sesame seeds and serve.