Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

This is one yummy, yummy, yummy salad. That is, if you can actually call it a `salad`. You could use any 'Asian' salad dressing in your arsenal, but I highly, highly recommend you take the extra couple of minutes and make your own - not only will you have an amazing end product, but you'll be really proud of yourself! I mean, how often can you can claim to have made your own salad dressing? Also, have fun cutting your veggies in fancy diagonals!
Bon appétit!


Ingredients:
Serves 4
1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced crosswise
Spicy Asian Dressing * (next post)
Coarse salt
3 1/2 ounces Chinese rice noodles, broken in half if long
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower
2 carrots, sliced into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise (I used snap peas instead as I am not a fan of cucumber)
1/4 cup fresh basil, torn
Bean sprouts, chopped peanuts, red-pepper flakes, and sliced scallion greens, for garnish (optional)

Directions
1. Place chicken and half of dressing in a resealable plastic bag (reserve remaining dressing). Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes (or refrigerate up to overnight).

2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles until tender. Drain, and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Transfer to a platter. Or serve hot ... better in my opinion!

3. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Working in batches, cook chicken (do not crowd skillet) until cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes; transfer to platter on top of noodles.

4. Top with carrots, cucumber/snap peas, and basil. Drizzle with reserved dressing, and sprinkle with garnishes, if desired.