chicken salad with soy sesame dressing / brown rice / egg soup

serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lb. chicken breast strips

1 inch piece ginger, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed

2 Tbs. Japanese sake or Chinese wine

1 egg, beaten

3 scallions, cut in 3 pieces each, then thinly sliced lengthwise

5 cups shredded lettuce

1 cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, then thinly sliced

1 box small tomatoes, cut in halves

5 leaves Japanese Shiso, chopped or 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Soy sesame dressing, whisk well
4 Tbs. soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. sesame oil
1 1/2 Tbs. vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbs. crushed ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Directions:
5 cups water in a medium pot, bring to a boil. Add the ginger, garlic, sake and chicken and boil for 1 minute then turn off the heat. Let it sit for 5 minutes until chicken is cooked then remove chicken from the stock. In this way, the chicken doesn’t get too hard. After it has cooled down, shred into bite sizes with hands.

Meanwhile make the egg soup: discard the ginger skin and bring the chicken stock to boil, pour in the egg and season with salt & pepper.

Divide the brown rice among 4 plates: top with the chicken, scallions, lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes. Garnish with Shiso. Serve the egg soup and sprinkle the dressing over each salad just before eating.

Japanese Shiso leaves

1. -beefsteak plant -

Shiso contain a lot of vitamins and minerals and are a good boost to the immune system; they are particularly good in helping to treat skin conditions and allergies, and have a healthy and soothing effect on the skin. These leaves have strong antibacterial properties making them effective against food poisoning, colds and flu.