Friday, January 4, 2013

Cheesecake Factory's Chinese Chicken Salad


I'm in charge of monthly women's social/ meeting at church.   This month our theme is "Wok and Talk" (cute huh?-I stole it here).  Originally, we were going to do stir-fry, but I couldn't figure out how to keep everything hot or if it would even be tasty on a large scale.  I thought instead, I would make an Asian-inspired salad and found one for the Cheesecake Factory's Chinese Chicken Salad here.  Which just so happens to be what I order every time I eat there.  (I'm a sucker for those crunchy Styrofoam noodles.)

I thought I better try it out on my family first, and made it tonight. I was  skeptical, but it actually turned out pretty close. I changed the original recipe up a little bit, b/c I think beansprouts taste like dirt and I ran out of Hoisin sauce. I also like sugar-snap peas better than snow peas. 

Salad:
1/2 head Iceberg Lettuce shredded
1/2 head Green Cabbage shredded
 1 bunch Green onions (chopped)
3 cooked chicken breasts-choppped

Dressing:
whisk together:
1/2 cup Plum Duck Sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tb fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 Tb Thai Sweet Chilli sauce
2 Tb sesame seeds
1 1/2 Tb Sesame oil
1 Tb canola oil

Garnish:
Sugar snap peas 1/4 pound
11 oz Mandarin Oranges (next time I'm doubling this)
1/4 cup almond slivers
Won ton Strips fried (just cut a 1/2 a package into strips and fry)
Rice Sticks- fried (here's some tips here-my favorite one was to break them into manageable size in a paper bag so they don't  they'll fly all over the kitchen)


Mix the salad w/ dressing and add the garnishes.  Yummy!



Here's a picture of the plum and sweet chilli sauces that I used. I am not sure if "plum duck" and "plum" sauces are the same, but I didn't feel like driving to the Asian food store.



Now I just need to learn how to make their cheesecake.

UPDATE:  I made this for my Women's group at church.  I thought I would go authentic and so went to the Asian Market to buy stuff.  I bought the plum sauce w/ the most Chinese Writing- "Koon Chun Sauce Factory".  The dressing was missing something and I noticed the original brand had apricots in it, so I added some apricot preserves. Much better. 

4 comments:

  1. I love this salad too! Just had it the other night actually.

    Those rice noodles are addicting (and flavorless) but I love the crunch with the salad.

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  2. My daughter just spend 6.5 yrs working for Cheesecake and their salads are yummy but this one looks amazing.

    I'm having a GOOGLE + Social hop. I'd love for you to hop on over, grab a button and link up your Google +. If you don't have Google + it's ok, come link up your blog or favorite post.

    http://mydailyphotojourney.blogspot.com/2013/01/google-social-hop.html


    I'm also looking for Pinterest Pinners to feature every week beginning in January. If you are on Pinterest and are interested in being featured come link up! Who knows you might meet some other great pinners and gain a few great ideas.

    http://mydailyphotojourney.blogspot.com/2012/12/looking-for-pinners.html

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  3. Yum! The real one from Cheesecake is actually my lunch today :) Thanks for the idea to try it at home!

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