Chicken Mole and Cactus Salad

Terrence and I made this the other evening with ingredients from Dos Hermanos, a new hispanic grocery store on Michigan Ave in Ypsilanti. I don't pretend to be an excellent cook in this cuisine, but it was a good experiment

Chicken Mole:
1 - 1.5 Lbs chicken breast, cut into strips
Mole Sauce (can buy premade)
Tomatoes, chopped
Onions, chopped
Your choice of peppers, depending on the Scoville units you desire. We used serrano
Tostados

1. Saute chicken breast, onions and peppers.
2. While that is cooking, mix prepare mole sauce according to directions in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook until thick and warm. We used chicken broth rather than water for the base
3. Add tomatoes to chicken/onion/pepper mix
4. Add mole sauce to chicken/vegetable mix
5. Pour over tostados

Cactus Salad:
Canned cactus (found at Dos Hermanios), chopped. (there is fresh cactus there also, but i'm not sure how you peel it, so i went for the canned)
Your choice of salsa, prefer tomato base though in this salad
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Mexican farmer's cheese, ie queso blanco (also at Dos Hermanios), crumbled
Corn, either fresh, canned or frozen

Basically mix all above ingredients together, in proportions that you like. Have chilled 30 mins-1 hour prior to serving to blending favors

Basil Peanut Noodle Salad

This is a recipe from Bon Appetit (7/2007), please refer there for full details.

1. Combine for dressing:
-peanut oil infused with garlic and ginger
-sesame oil
-soy sauce
-red pepper can be added to the oil or some element of heat to the dressing

2. Toss cold noodles with dressing and julienned green onions. Allow to chill for approximately an hour.

3. Toss with peanuts and basil. Return to refrigerator until ready to serve.

*I was thinking about adding tofu to the recipe but did not know how to go about doing this. Celery also might be nice touch to add some texture or crunch.

Mango-Fish Salad

Salad:
lettuce and/or mix greens
1 bunch cilantro, chopped (remove 1 tablespoon for fish)
1 tbsp lime juice
1 mango, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne or chili powder, to taste
salt to taste
-mix above ingredients and refrigerate (for about 1 hour)

Fish:
1 lb. light fish (ex. orange roughy, tilapia)
1/2 teaspoon of the following
-chilli powder
-cumin powder
-cilantro powder
-paprika
-black pepper
olive oil
cilantro from above
-Coat meat with spice mix and then dribble with oil. Garnish with cilantro and broil according to fish (approximately 5-10 minutes on each side).
-Serve on salad either whole or in bite-size pieces.

Broccoli Salad

1 bunch broccoli, cut up
1/2 C finely chopped red onion
1 C raisins
1/2 C chopped celery
1/2 C sunflower seeds

Dressing:
1 C Miracle Whip
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp vinegar

Courtesy of Jin Shin Kwak