Shredded chicken with mung bean noodles and sesame sauce
Also known as gai see fun pei, this is a Shanghainese cold dish that's often served as a starter.
To make it, I use a salt-baked or soy sauce chicken from the siu mei (roast meat) shop. Don't let the vendor chop up the chicken because it should be hand-shredded into long strands. Fresh fun pei (mung bean noodles) come in wide rolls or sheets that are soaked in boiling water to soften them.
1/2 a soy sauce or salt-baked chicken
300 grams fresh mung bean noodles
1/4 to 1/2 a long, slender Japanese or Chinese cucumber
Fresh coriander
Toasted sesame seeds
For the sauce:
60 grams Chinese sesame paste (don't use tahini)
1-2 garlic cloves, finely minced
About 15ml regular soy sauce
About 10ml rice vinegar
A few drops of runny honey
About 10ml Chinese sesame oil
Remove the chicken meat from the bones, then shred it into long, thick strands.
Mix together the sauce ingredients, then taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary. It should be thin enough to lightly coat a spoon. If it's too thick, stir in some warm water.
Julienne the cucumber.
Cut the mung bean sheets or rolls into 1cm-wide pieces and put them in a large bowl.
Pour boiling water into the bowl to cover the fun pei and leave until the noodles are translucent and pliable (about a minute).
Drain the fun pei, rinse with cold water, then separate each piece into individual noodles.
Spread the noodles over a plate and add a layer of julienned cucumber before topping with the chicken.
Spoon the sauce over the chicken, add sprigs of fresh coriander then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Mix all the ingredients together, serve.
