Agar Agar Salad with Chicken
- camissonia
- Oct 18
- 1 min read
So what the hey is agar-agar? It's a derivative of seaweed and used basically as a vegetarian form of gelatin. In Chinese markets, it's typically sold in 1.5 oz packages and the product looks like long strands of translucent noodles with the consistency of plastic. Sounds delish, eh? Well, actually, it really is when well-seasoned and properly prepared. My grandmother used to make this tasty cold appetizer/salad with agar-agar and chicken. After some experimentation, I came up with this rendition which I think closely (though not exactly) approximates her recipe. Hope I've done Ah-Ma proud!
1
Note on the sauce:
*Agar agar is available in most Asian markets or online
2
Note on the sauce:
***You can use roasted/cooked chicken meat from the market or poach your own for this recipe: Place 2 chicken breasts in bottom of a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil for 1 minute; turn off heat and cover the pot. After 15 minutes, remove the chicken to a chopping board and let cool to room temperature before shredding. Sprinkle some of the chicken poaching liquid over the shredded chicken to keep it moist. You can also add a little bit of the poaching liquid to the salad after all ingredients have been combined to keep it moist.
Notes
1
Cut agar-agar into 2" sections in a large bowl. Cover with room temperature water & soak at least 2 hours up to overnight. Drain water from the agar agar.
2
Add all the other ingredients to the drained agar agar & mix well. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If not serving right away, then place into a Ziploc bag and refrigerate until ready to use.
3
Plate and serve.
Instructions
1.5 oz package Agar agar*
1 hothouse or English cucumber julienned
1 Jalapeno or Fresno chili seeded & thinly sliced
1 clove garlic minced
16 oz cooked chicken shredded**
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
6 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp white sesame seed
Dressing
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Agar Agar Salad with Chicken
Prep Time
25 min
Cooking Time
25 min
Rest Time
0
Total Time
50 min
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