Asian Sesame Chicken Chop Salad

I'm about to confess something that, while probably not actually that terrible, I see as so truly embarrassing and SMH-worthy I should just go crawl into a hole and hide. Brace yourselves. After canceling my Netflix account before we left for Asia, I re-subscribed AND I LOVE IT. There it is. It's out there in the open. Ready to be judged {mostly by myself}. The guilt I feel here is mostly the "I'm traveling in an exotic foreign land and should be experiencing it 100% OF THE TIME!" however; we've learned that just isn't realistic. As you saw from my mini-breakdown on Monday {thanks for the love!}, traveling gets hard. Sometimes we need a break. We've been a bit under the weather this week, so on top of being tired we've really just had to take it easy.

And you know what that means? #OITNB. Can. Not. Stop.That's "Orange Is The New Black" for those of you living under a rock {it's okay, I still love you and admire your non-tv-watching-habit ways}. I loved last season so much that I was SUPER bummed when they announced season two coming out a month after we left the US. I knew 1) we wouldn't actually have easy access to Netflix, and 2) we were canceling our account anyways, and 3) ain't nobody got time for that! Well, we figured out how to get netflix, re-activated our account, and are now lounging in rainy Dalat recovering our health while watching movies. and OITNB. For the record, I've really only watched like four episodes — which is, if I can toot my own horn, a darn impressive feat of self control. Toot toot!

Now I just have to juggle all of my Kindle books, many of which I get from the Bozeman Digital Library and therefore have to promptly read, with my rekindled {see what I did?} TV-watching ways. Tough life problems, right? This is one of those topics that I truly do beat myself up for, but clearly am not too ashamed of to keep totally to myself. Hello, blogging? I'm glad to have a support crew {YOU!}. Also, is anyone watching the Bachelorette? Am I missing out on an awesome season?! #shame

Let's talk about this salad and get my mind off of shameful habits. This salad falls into the "Derek was skeptical and then loved it like he loves cookies" category. That might be an overstatement, since the man REALLY loves his cookies, but I've never seen him inhale {and ask for more} salad quite like he did with this. And that's really saying something, since it's really mostly cabbage. Let's just be honest: cabbage can be really boring. How do we fix cabbage and make it anything but boring? WITH KICKASS ASIAN SESAME SAUCE! That's how! This sauce is so many of my favorite things all rolled — ok, mixed — into one. Toasted sesame oil? Marry me. I don't even need to continue {I'm a one-man kinda gal} with the rest of the ingredients, even though they're all amazing, because toasted sesame oil is. the. BOMB. Seriously, one of my favorite oils. It gets me every time!

The sauce in this recipe is split to marinade the chicken, and then the rest is spruced up a little more for dressing the cabbage and carrots. If you have other veggies on hand that would go well in here {edamame! cucumber! radishes!}, throw those in! Don't be shy! Also don't be shy with the cilantro and almonds — those were total backup singers to our Beyonce of a sauce. They're right up there shakin' it like the best!

We ate this salad cold, as I cooked this chicken ahead, but it would be great either way. Straight off the grill or pre-made, this is one fabulous salad {and GREAT for summer since it takes minimal prep and gives you a reason to GRILL!}. Please go enjoy this for me, as I eat a variety of other Asian foods! {love love love love love my life!}

Asian Sesame Chicken Chop Salad

• Author: by Mary
• Prep Time: 1 hour
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 Tbsp hoisin sauce
• ¼ soy sauce {Tamari if GF}
• ¼ cup sweet thai chili sauce
• 3 Tbsp sesame oil
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 3 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced or grated
• 1 tsp sriracha {optional}
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 2 large chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 3 Tbsp green onions, finely chopped
• 1 medium cabbage, shredded or chopped
• 2 large carrots, shredded
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• ⅓ cup slivered almonds
• 2 tsp sesame seeds {toasted}

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Instructions

1. Combine the hoisin, soy sauce, sweet thai chili sauce, sesame oil, crushed red pepper, fresh ginger, garlic, sriracha, and lemon juice. Stir together until fully incorporated.
2. Set aside half of the mixture, and pour the other half into a ziplock bag with the chicken breasts. Seal, coat the chicken, and let marinade in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, and up to 12 hours. Once fully marinaded, grill the chicken until white all the way through.
3. Add the olive oil, rice wine vinegar, and green onions to the reserved dressing.
4. Combine the shredded cabbage, carrots, cilantro, almonds, and sesame seeds. Toss with the dressing, and top with the sliced grilled chicken.

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