Each year I vow to add new recipes to my repertoire, so when I recently had some organic chicken cutlets in the fridge, rather than relying on favorites like Chicken Milanese or Thai Chicken Stew, I decided to search for a new and inspiring dish. I looked for a recipe that included the ingredients I had in the house—namely chicken, red peppers, cilantro, soba noodles, ginger, red cabbage—and I stumbled upon this Spicy Peanut Soba Noodle Salad with Chicken on a website called Pinch of Yum. It sounded perfect. It was super simple to prepare and the leftovers made for a delicious next-day lunch. As Stephan likes to say when he loves a meal, it’s a keeper.

Note: I decided to marinate the chicken with some ginger and garlic, as well as the recommended salt and pepper.

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Spicy Peanut Sauce:

5 tablespoons peanut butter
5 tablespoons water
5 tablespoons soy sauce, or tamari for gluten free
2 tablespoons sesame oil (optional – for flavor)
2 tablespoons honey
juice of 1 lime
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup chili sauce like sriracha (more or less depending on spice tolerance)
1/2 cup peanuts

For the Salad:

1 lb. chicken breast
1” piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped (my addition)
1 large garlic clove, peeled, smashed and finely chopped (my addition)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
3–4 cups chopped purple cabbage, thinly sliced
10 ounces soba noodles
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or basil to taste
1/4 cup crushed peanuts for topping

Preparation

Season chicken with salt and pepper, add ginger and garlic, toss well and set aside while you prepare the sauce. (I added this step.)
Puree sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender. Add the peanuts last so you can control how chunky it is.
Prepare soba noodles according to package directions.

Cook the chicken in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season with salt and pepper. When the chicken is cooked through, set aside until cool enough to handle and shred the meat.
Toss noodles, chicken and vegetables together with enough dressing to generously coat everything. Serve hot or cold topped with fresh herbs.