Chinese Not-Really-Chicken Salad

Chinese Not-Really-Chicken Salad

This is something I made up. But I think it lends itself to lots of variations to suit individual tastes. Here's what I did tonight for two people; you can increase quantities as desired:

Salad
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced
2 scallions, whites and green tops thinly sliced on the diagonal
A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
A tablespoon or so of sesame seeds, toasted
2 tablespoons of sliced almonds, toasted
1/2 pound of tofu, cut into 1" cubes
Salad greens, washed and spun dry- enough to cover two dinner plates
Something crunchy for the top- I fried some wonton skins that I'd cut into 1/2" strips
Cooking oil, if you want to fry wonton skins and/or the tofu

Dressing
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger (I grate it on a Microplane grater)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. In a bowl, combine the oranges, cucumber, scallions, cilantro, sesame seeds and almonds.

2. You can leave the tofu plain (e.g. uncooked), or you can pan-fry it in a little oil to give it a crisp-chewy texture. Tonight I fried it, since I already had oil on to do the wonton skins, but typically I'd leave it plain.

3. Whisk together the dressing ingredients.

4. Divide the greens between two dinner plates. Ditto for the orange mixture and the tofu. Drizzle with dressing to taste. Top with the "something crunchy" and serve.

Re: Something crunchy. This could be anything you like- the aforementioned fried wonton strips, those crunchy Chinese noodles that come in a can, broken potato chips (really!), fried skinny rice stick noodles. Whatever strikes your fancy or is in the pantry or is easiest.