Jenny's Food At Home: Peanut Noodle Salad

I absolutely love cold Chinese noodle salads. I had a Marshall Field Chinese noodle salad years ago and loved it! If you don't know Marshall Fields its a department store in Chicago and they have a cafe which has some wonderful unique dishes. Anyway, I already had this peanut sauce made and was having a friend over for dinner so thought this would be a great dinner for us. :) The best thing to me about this salad is to fry your own wontons for the top. DELISH!!!

First I boiled Fusilli noodles which are the best noodles for a cold Chinese salad. They have a great consistency and seem to be better than plain spaghetti noodles.

Meanwhile, pour vegetable oil in a medium saucepan about halfway. Heat oil. I check by splashing a bit of water to see if ready. I don't fry a ton so kinda guess:)

I buy the wonton wrappers from Harris Teeter in the produce section. I cut them in long strips. In thirds. You can make thinner if you like.

I fry them long enough to see a bit of brown. I fry about 5 or 6 strips at a time. Then put them on paper towels to drain.

I bought a rotisserie chicken and cut it up. Which I love to use in these salads. Its easy and tastes great. For the vegetables I use a small amount of chopped mushrooms, green onion, and blanch some snow peas. To blanch them bring a small amount of water to a boil then add the peas. Boil for about 2 min or so and then put them in colander with ice. Blanching keeps the veggies crisp and tender.

For the peanut sauce:

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

2/3 cup water

4 Tbs hoison sauce

4 Tbs soy sauce

4 Tbs light brown sugar

2 Tbs rice vinegar

3 tsp sesame oil

Combine the above in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat stirring constantly. It makes alot so I always freeze some for future times:)