Recipe Review | Asian Cabbage Salad with Grilled Chicken

Another Jones Family Favorite, found on Pinterest (where else?). 

This light and satisfying salad is full of bright flavor. I've made it several times and everyone enjoys the dish. I always serve it with grilled chicken (on the side or diced and tossed into the mix). However, the original recipe does not call for chicken. You could always leave it out and serve this dish alongside anything from the grill. The recipe below makes about 4 adult entree-sized servings.

Asian Cabbage Salad (with Grilled Chicken*)

(slightly modified via The Lemon Bowl)

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What you need (salad):

1 head napa cabbage, thinly sliced

3/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, minced

1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

2 tablespoons black sesame seeds, toasted

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What you need (dressing):

6 tablespoons rice vinegar

4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

4 tablespoons dark sesame oil

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons ginger root, grated (If you can find the tube--use it.)

1 tablespoon sriracha - optional

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What you need (grilled chicken):

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (depending on size and level of hunger)

6 ounces (or so) Ken's Steak House Italian Dressing & Marinade (or something similar)

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What to do:

1. Marinade your chicken in the dressing, in the refrigerator, for at least 15 minutes. Grill until done. (*I'm very vague here regarding the grilling instructions because Mr. Jones does 99.9% of the grilling around here.) Let rest while you prepare the salad.
2. Combine cabbage, green onions, mint, and cilantro in a large bowl.
3. Using a dry nonstick pan, toast almonds over medium heat, stirring often until they begin to turn golden and become fragrant. Pay attention and don't let your nuts burn! Set aside to cool.
4. Wipe your nonstick pan with a dry paper towel and use it to next toast the sesame seeds. Because of the dark color, it will be harder to know when these are toasted. They should take about 1-2 minutes to become fragrant. Add these to your almonds.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing. Drizzle about half over the salad. Add the almonds and sesame seeds. Toss well. Depending on how "wet" you like your salad, add more dressing, if desired.
6. Dice or slice your chicken and serve atop your salad. If you have left-over dressing, you could drizzle some over the chicken at this point.