Ani's Kitchen Stories

A guilt free indulgence with crunchy veggies, juicy chicken and delicious sesame and olive oil dressing. It’s a perfect protein rich Salad that can go as your main dish or as side dish.

Salads doesn’t always have to be boring. You can always elevate your salad by adding toasted nuts, dry fruits, fresh veggies or fruits, protein of your choice and delicious freshly made salad dressing. For the vegetarian version you can add Roasted chickpeas, feta cheese instead of chicken or meat.

This Crunchy nutty Chicken Salad with the sesame and olive oil dressing is easily customisable and you’ll definitely ask for more.

In this gorgeous rainbow salad I’ve used the best quality ingredients which is easily available in the departmental stores or an online shop like Amazon. Make sure to use the quality soy sauce, extra virgin olive and Asian roasted sesame oil.

I’ve used Kikkoman Soy Sauce which is naturally brewed that brings out the nutty umami taste in your dish.

Shaoxing Rice Wine is a meat tenderer that has its own subtle flavour and taste that goes best in any Asian cuisine. It’s totally optional but once you use it, there’s no looking back. I’ve first started using it in 2020, not long ago and it has become an integral part in my kitchen.

The Roasted Sesame Oil is the star ingredient in the salad dressing. The nutty aromatic sesame oil gives a unique depth and flavour to the hot or cold dish.

The Extra Virgin Olive Oil is no doubt the least processed Olive oil and goes a long way for health benefits.

Let’s head to the recipe of Chicken Veggie Salad With the goodness of Sesame Oil and Nuts.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

Ingredients for Chicken Marination:

• 250 gms boneless chicken cut in small 

         bites

• 2 tsp Tapioca flour or substitute with 1 tsp corn flour 
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (I’ve used Kikkoman soy sauce which is naturally brewed) 
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce 
• 1 tsp sesame oil 
• 4-5 cloves of garlic crushed and finely chopped 
• 1/4 inch ginger crushed and finely chopped 
• 1 chilli 
• 1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine (optional) 
• Crushed pepper
• Pinch Salt to taste 
• 1 tbsp water
• Oil for frying 
• For the Salad:
• 1 cup shredded green cabbage
• 1/2 cup shredded purple cabbage
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion 
• 1 whole shredded carrot 
• 4-5 mini sweet bell peppers, thinly julienned
• 1 cucumber cut in strips 
• 1/2 red onion sliced  
• Toasted nuts (cashew & walnut) 
• Toasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 lime juice
• For the Dressing:
• 1 tsp sesame oil 
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 
• 1 chilli chopped 
• Extra chopped garlic 
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• Extra green onion 

Method: 

 For the chicken:

Marinate the chicken for least half an hour. 

Heat oil and pan fry the chicken in low to medium heat, turning occasionally. Fry until the chicken turns tender and golden in colour. Remove from the heat and keep it aside. 

For the Salad dressing:

In a small bowl mix the soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil, chilli, brown sugar, green onion & garlic. Set aside. 

Assemble the Salad together:

In a large deep plate, add the green and purple cabbage, green onion, carrots, bell pepper, cucumber, chilli, red onion, pan fried chicken, toasted cashews, walnuts and sesame seeds. Pour dressing all over the salad and toss to combine and coat all the veggies. To create more drama in the salad, squeeze lime and sprinkle more sesame seeds on top. Dig in fresh. You can serve it as main dish or as side dish. It’s healthy and completely guilt free and you can have as many servings as you want.