I got all "We are the World" on your basic Chinese Chicken salad. You know I simply cannot do anything generic. I got inspiration for my fusion salad from this Chinese Mexican restaurant in Phoenix where I used to live called Chino Bandido where you can get a Carnitas, Egg Foo Yung, Pork Fried Rice burrito with a side of refried beans. The combination is kinda trippy, but somehow it oddly works.
Instead of fattening and greasy, I got flexi and sexy. We got some hotness in the salad...and actually I am talking about some literal hotness. For the greens, I used chopped curly purple kale and ancho cress I found at the farmers market this weekend. Ancho cress is a wide leaf edible herb that has a peppery mustard burst kinda like wasabe. Ancho cress is a fun way to liven up a salad.
What's cool about this salad is that you can use real chicken or you can do what I did here and use a meat alternative like Beyond Meat chicken to make the salad vegan. It looks like real chicken, doesn't it? For the Mexican part, in a suace pan I heated the chicken in olive oil and seasoned it with some Frontera taco skillet sauce. Besides being vegan, my salad is also gluten-free.
The rest of the toppings include mandarin oranges, chopped green onion, chopped beets just for some color, and crushed tortilla chips instead of crispy noodles with Chinese chicken salad dressing from a bottle.
Next time you make Chinese chicken salad, try some dark greens instead of iceburg lettuce. You'll be adding more flavor and nutrients to your salad in a fun way.
