A PERFECT dressing for oriental salads!! Giving only 4 stars because I DID mix in a little Sesame Seed oil along with the vegetable oil and added bean sprouts shredded cabbage and snow peas to the other ingredients in the salad. Also substituted shredded baked wontons (from another recipe on this site) for the chow mein noodles. My husband said this was the best oriental salad he's ever tasted.
This is my son's favorite salad. I used 1 tablespoon of Splenda instead of 4 tablespoons of sugar and I also added 1/4 cup of peanut oil for flavor.
People always ask me to make this for get-togethers and it's the only lettuce salad my husband will eat. The dressing is delicious and it's a favorite of everyone's.
I modified the recipe a bit. I didn't have chow mein noodles or water chestnuts used dry roasted peanuts instead of almonds and added mandarin oranges. It was great! The dressing (I used white wine vinegar) is really what brings the whole salad together no matter what ingredients you have in it.
Loved this salad! For the chicken on top I cut chicken breast into thin strips and dipped it in an egg/hoisen sauce mixture breaded with crused cornflakes and fried. May add mandarin oranges next time as well. Will make again.
I tried this recipe for my husband who loves a Chinese Chicken Salad at a local restaurant. For ease in preparation I used a bag of pre-made salad which had carrots and red cabbage and left-over rotisserie chicken. Also as suggested by another reviewer I added mandarin oranges. With these changes this salad was easily made within 8 minutes - great for busy weeknights. However the dressing was a bit bland. The recipe doesn't state which vinegar to use so I would conclude she meant white vinegar. I suggest you use cider vinegar to give it some zing. Also you may want to add a couple of teaspoons of Teriyaki sauce. I think that really helped it a lot. Although the dressing needs to be tweeted a bit for personal taste it is a recipe worth trying and keeping. We really enjoyed it.
Loved the water chestnuts and almonds. I also added mandarin oranges for color and texture.
I have made this recipe many many times and everyone ALWAYS loves it. My married daughter begs me to make it for every family get together. And...It is so simple to make.
I made this today and it was a great hot weather salad to have with leftover rotisserie chicken that I got at the grocery store earlier this week. I added about 1 T of sesame oil to the oil and also used 1/2 olive and 1/2 veg. oil (using the tablespoon of sesame oil to fill up the 1/2 c. I used rice wine vinegar. I added a large can of mandarin oranges and pea pods (cut in half). I used rice noodles instead of chow mein noodles. If I had ginger on hand I would have grated some in the dressing. I think I'll leave the poppy seeds out next time. They really don't add much. This was a very nice salad!
I thought this dressing was way too bland. I added sesame oil and terriyaki sauce and it helped it a lot. With those additions the recipe is a keeper but I am rating it based on the recipe as is- needs additions to be good in my opinion.
