Chinese Chicken Salad

I was alone for dinner last night and got a craving for a Chinese Chicken Salad. Scoured some cookbooks and couldn't find anything that sounded right, though. The dressing was the crucial part for me and all I could find was one that had mayonnaise in it! Not at all what I think of for Chinese chicken salad, but I decided to play with it a bit, leaving out the mayo. When I went to get the sesame oil I noticed a recipe for Chinese Salad Dressing right on the bottle and it sounded like what I wanted!

3 Tbs soy sauce

1 Tbs rice vinegar

2 Tbs sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

1.5 Tbs mustard powder

I cut up some lettuce, diced some cucumber, went to the garden and pulled up an onion and sliced it, and grated some carrot for the salad and tossed lightly with the dressing. Mmmm! A bit spicy, perhaps, but very much what I had in mind.

Then there was the chicken... I took a boneless, skinless chicken breast and put salt and pepper on it, while I heated up some peanut oil in a frying pan. I took some breadcrumbs and added cumin powder and chili powder to them, then pressed them into the chicken breast. Fried it in the peanut oil over medium heat for a few minutes, then turned it and cooked another few minutes. Perfect! Sliced it into strips and put on top of the salad.