Mom’s Chinese Chicken Salad (手絲鷄沙律, Sau2 Si1 Gai1 Saa1 Leot6)

This recipe was updated on 15 Aug 2015. Some equipment was added and hyperlinks fixed.

My Mom would make her Chinese chicken salad for family gatherings, and since I have a very large family, there is no such thing as making just a little Chinese chicken salad. She would roast two chickens and hand shred the meat. Hand-shredding (手絲, sau² si¹) the chickens was an important step, since the Chinese believe that hand-shredding adds flavor to the dish (just be sure your hands are washed and clean!). All the other ingredients also require time to cut, chop, and crush in order to get to the finished dish. Note that making this recipe is a two day process.

I just recently asked my Mom for the recipe (which is found later in the post). The first time I made the dish, it didn’t turn out right. I used chicken parts and increased the amount of dressing. All wrong; since you need the gelatin from a whole chicken to flavor the dish, and just a small amount of dressing is required since the salad is almost “dry” when compared to the “wet” dressing used in most salads.

My second try was more successful. This version of the recipe is slightly different from my Mom’s original, with minor changes to the salad and dressing ingredients and quantities, and the taste was close to my Mom’s too. However, the quantity of salad hasn’t changed, so there’s still no such thing as just a little Chinese chicken salad.

Enjoy!

This is the updated recipe. My Mom’s original recipe can be found later in the post. There is another version of this recipe using a grilled chicken, which my Mom liked better than this recipe. The updated recipe can be found here: Chinese Barbeque Chicken Salad (手絲燒烤鷄沙律, Sau² Si¹ Siu¹ Haau¹ Gai¹ Saa¹ Leot⁶).

Salad Ingredients

6 lb.	2.75 kg.	One whole chicken (雞, gai1), hand shredded (see notes)
3	3	One package romaine lettuce hearts (生菜, saang1 coi3), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces (see notes)
1	1	Carrot (hung4紅蘿蔔, lo4 baak6), julienned into thin 2-inch (5 cm.) long pieces
6 stalks	6 stalks	One bunch green onions (葱, cung1), cut into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces
13 oz.	369 g.	One jar Caché de Chef brand scallions or equivalent, drained and cut into thin pieces (see notes)
2 bunch	2 bunch	Cilantro (芫茜, jyun4 sai1), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces - about 5 oz. (150 g.) total
8 oz.	250 g.	Peanuts (花生, faa1 sang1), crushed
1+1 Tbs.	15+15 ml.	White sesame seeds (芝麻, zi1 maa4), toasted – divided use
1+1 Tbs.	15+15 ml.	Black sesame seeds (胡麻, wu4 maa4), toasted – divided use

 

Dressing Ingredients

1 tsp.	5 ml.	Mustard powder (芥末粉, gaai3 mut6 fan2)
¼ tsp.	1.25 ml.	Onion powder (洋蔥粉, joeng4 cung1 fan2)
¼ tsp.	1.25 ml.	Ground black pepper (黑椒, hak1 ziu1)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Five spice salt (?鹽, wah jim4) (see notes)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Lemon juice (檸汁, ning4 zap1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

 

Equipment

8 qt.	7.5 L.	Pot to poach the chicken
4.5 qt.	4 L.	Glass bowl or equivalent to hold the poached chicken
		Chinese cleaver or heavy knife
		Pan to toast the five spice salt and sesame seeds
15 qt.	15 L.	Plastic bin with cover or equivalent to mix the salad
4.8 qt.	4.5 L.	Glass serving dish

 

Use a covered plastic bin to mix and store
the salad overnight in the refrigerator

Instructions (One Day Before)

1. Prepare the chicken using the Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹) recipe the day before the Chinese chicken salad is to be served. Allow the chicken to cool for at least one hour in a large glass bowl or equivalent container unrefrigerated. Once the chicken cools in the bowl, use a knife to cut the skin connecting drumstick and thigh to the chicken breast, and allow the liquid gelatin to drain into the bowl. This is important since this liquid will be used to coat the hand shredded chicken meat to add more flavor to the meat.
2. Remove the chicken from the bowl onto a cutting board. Use a Chinese cleaver or other heavy knife to separate the chicken into its major parts – wings, drumsticks and thighs, back, and breasts – see the Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) recipe for instructions. It is easier to hand-shred the meat from the major parts than leaving the chicken whole. Hand-shred the chicken meat and skin, putting it into the bowl containing the liquid gelatin, and mixing and coating the shredded meat and skin with the gelatin. Transfer all hand-shredded chicken in the bowl to the large plastic bin or container in which the salad is to be mixed.
3. Prepare the five spice salt by adding two parts salt to one part five spice powder in a dry pan over medium heat. Mix the spice mix over the heat until it becomes fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Since the salad only uses a small amount of the five spice salt, make a large amount and store it in a sealed jar or container after it cools (will be used the next day in the dressing).
4. Toast all the white and black sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium high heat. Mix the sesame seeds together in the pan and remove the pan from the heat once the white seeds turn brown. Divide the seeds into two portions and place each portion into individual small bowls to cool. Cover one bowl with plastic wrap after the sesame seeds have cooled for use the next day.
5. Wash the romaine lettuce hearts and then cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces. Put the lettuce into the bin with the chicken and mix the ingredients together.

   

   Caché de Chef Brand Scallions

6. Wash the carrot and julienned into thin 2-inch (5 cm.) long pieces. Put the carrot into the bin with the chicken and mix the ingredients together.
7. Wash and cut the green onions into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces. Put the green onion into the bin with the chicken and mix the ingredients together.
8. Open the jar of scallions and discard the liquid. Cut the scallion in half and then slice thin pieces from each half. Put the cut scallions into the bin with the chicken and mix the ingredients together.
9. Wash the cilantro and then cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces. Put the cilantro into the bin with the chicken and mix the ingredients together.
10. Crush the peanuts into small pieces. Put the peanuts into the bin with the chicken and mix the ingredients together.
11. Place one portion (one bowl) of the toasted sesame seeds into the bin with the chicken and mix the ingredients together.
12. Cover the bin with the chicken salad and put the bin into the refrigerator.

Serving Dish

Instructions (Serving Day)

1. Take the bin with the chicken salad out of the refrigerator.
2. Prepare the dressing by first mixing the dry ingredients in a small bowl: mix the mustard powder, onion powder, ground black pepper, and five spice salt together. Add the soy sauce, lemon juice, and sesame oil to the bowl and mix together with the dry ingredients. The amount of the dressing will look very small, so don’t be alarmed by the seemingly small amount of dressing.
3. Add the dressing to the chicken salad in the bin up to 4 hours before serving. Add some of the salad to the bowl with the dressing to transfer as much of the dressing from the bowl into the salad, empty the contents of the bowl into the bin, and thoroughly mix the dressing and salad together in the bin.
4. Finally transfer the finished chicken salad from the mixing bin to the serving dish. Sprinkle the last portion of the toasted sesame seeds on top of the chicken salad in the serving dish. The chicken salad should be kept in the refrigerator until serving time.

Mom’s Original Recipe

Here’s my Mom’s original recipe. I’ve added metric measurements and the Chinese characters, which weren’t in the original.

6 lb.	2.75 kg.	Chicken (雞, gai1)
1 head	1 head	Lettuce (生菜, saang1 coi3)
1 bunch	1 bunch	Green onions (葱, cung1)
16 oz.	454 g.	One jar scallions
2 bunch	2 bunch	Cilantro (芫茜, jyun4 sai1)
1	1	Large bag of peanuts (花生, faa1 sang1)
		Sesame seeds (芝麻, zi1 maa4)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Mustard powder (芥末粉, gaai3 mut6 fan2)
⅛ tsp.	0.63 ml.	Onion salt (洋蔥鹽, joeng4 cung1 jim4)
⅛ tsp.	0.63 ml.	Pepper (黑椒, hak1 ziu1)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Five spice salt (?鹽, wah jim4)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Accent (which is monosodium glutamate (味精, mei6 zing1))
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Lemon juice (檸汁, ning4 zap1)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

 

Notes

1. My Mom’s recipe used the hand-shredded meat from two whole roasted chickens, rather than the one poached  Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鷄, Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹) used in this recipe. A Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) can also be used. Any of these methods to prepare a whole chicken can be used for the salad and my Mom even mentioned that roast chickens from Costco could be used if you’re really pressed for time. Using a whole chicken is important. The gelatin from the whole cooked chicken plays an important part supplying the flavor to this dish. The dish doesn’t taste right if chicken parts are used instead (I’ve tried).
2. Hand-shredding (手絲, sau² si¹) the chicken is an important aspect in preparing this dish. Hand-shredding supposedly adds flavor to the dish due to all the handling (make sure you’re hands are washed and clean!). The irregular pieces are part of the dish, although if you’re pressed for time, you can cut the meat using a cleaver or knife.
3. If romaine lettuce hearts are not available, use one head of lettuce (which is used in the original recipe). It turns out that the weight of 3 romaine lettuce hearts is about the same as one head of lettuce.
4. When my Mom made this recipe, one jar of Caché de Chef brand scallions was 16 oz. (454 g.), but is now 13 oz. (369 g.). The reduction in quantity doesn’t seem to affect the taste of the dish. The jarred scallions consist only of the white bulb of the scallion in a sugar and salt solution. The actual English translation for the ingredient is “Scallions in Syrup”.
5. Five spice salt is a mixture of five spice powder and salt in a ratio of 1:2. The recipe uses a small amount of the five spice salt, so make a large quantity and store it in a sealed container. The five spice salt can also be used as a condiment for Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴).