A couple years ago I was on a food committee for a 3 night Young Women’s camp. We fed 220 people each meal. It was exhausting and SO much fun! Before serving on that committee, I knew NONE of the other women in the kitchen with me. By the end, I considered them all some of my best friends!
Sherri is from Hong Kong. She has the BEST stories. She is HILARIOUS and she also carries chopsticks with her wherever she goes, because “you never know when you will need a set of chopsticks.” She was put in charge of lunch for the first day at camp. She chose to do these Asian Noodle Bowls. They were a HUGE hit! The girls and their leaders LOVED the fresh veggies and delicious flavors, especially on a hot day. (We did have PB&J and cold cereal with milk in the kitchen for any picky eaters. No one went hungry on our watch.)
This meal has become an often requested one in my home over the last two years. I’ve even had friends reach out to me for the recipe. I recently served it to my book club for lunch. And THIS year, I went back to the same camp, but this time I was IN CHARGE of the food committee! We had SO many requests for these bowls that we brought them back for an encore. Once again, they were a SMASH!
STEP ONE – Pickle veggies, can be done a day ahead. Also, but up fresh veggies like lettuce, cucumbers and green onions.
Jicama – I had never had jicama before Sherri introduced me to it at camp. I had seen it in the produce section at the store, but never picked it up. Now I love to use it in salads, stir-fry and thinly sliced on sandwiches!
Peel a jicama with a good vegetable peeler or paring knife. Slice cross wise into large rounds, about a 1/4 inch wide. Stack a few rounds at a time, then cut in rows to make matchsticks.
Measure the pickling solution ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a low boil. Make sure the sugar and salt have dissolved. Pour half over the jicama and half over some shredded or julienned carrots.
Cut up cucumbers the same way as the jicama, into matchsticks. Thinly slice green onions and roughly chop the lettuce.
STEP TWO – Make the Sweet Chili Lime dressing. Can be made several days in advance and can be frozen.
This dressing is NOT spicy. It is sweet and a little tangy. I love it for these bowls and also love it on a Thai Chicken salad!
Start with bottled Thai sweet chili sauce. It can be found in the Asian aisle by the other sauces. Add water, fish sauce, and lime juice. If you do not have limes or lime juice on hand, then add a packet of True Lime. Whisk together and stir again before serving as it tends to settle.
STEP THREE – Prepare the rice noodles according the package. Grill the chicken or prepare other protein (look at recipe notes). Slice the grilled chicken.
We prefer these noodles that we purchase at our local Asian market. This same kind may not be available at your supermarket. Purchase something similar.
Use left over grilled chicken from dinner the night before or marinate and broil or grill chicken. We highly recommend chicken THIGHS for this meal. Trim the fat and any skin and bones before marinating. The chicken can be frozen raw with the marinade before cooking. Set in the fridge a day or two before cooking. It marinates as it thaws. OR it can be frozen after it is grilled and sliced. This is how we did it for camp. It was grilled, cut up and ready to thaw and eat. It worked GREAT!
STEP FOUR – Set up service. If you have a long table or counter-top, that will work best to keep things in order.
Start with a bed of lettuce, then the rice noodles, then Chicken.
Top that with all the yummy veggies! Pickled jicama and carrots. Then, fresh cucumbers and green onions. Next, drizzle the dressing over the top, to taste.
If you LOVE a good bowl, then check out these other recipes –
If you want to try some of our other favorite Asian dishes, then check this post out –
Asian Noodle Bowls
Ingredients
Chicken
- 3 lbs chicken thighs
- 1 cup soyaki or teriyaki blend marinade OR make the marinade below. choose ONE marinade, this or the following below.
- 1 cup soy sauce or tamari gluten free sauce
- 1 TBSP minced garlic
- 1 TBSP minced ginger
- ¼ cup olive oil
Pickled Veggies
- 2 cups shredded carrots, matchstick style
- 1 med.-lg. jicama, peeled and cut into 1-2 inch matchsticks
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup rice vinegar
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
Bowls
- 4-5 cups shredded lettuce blend Romaine and spring mix blend
- 1 16 oz. + rice noodles, spaghetti style – long round noodle
- 1-2 large English cucumbers
- 1 bunch green onions
- 1 cup cilantro, chopped
Sweet Chili Lime Dressing
- 1 10 oz. bottled sweet chili sauce
- 1 cup water, room temperature
- ½ cup lime juice
- 2 TBSP fish sauce
- 3 TBSP minced garlic
Instructions
- Trim fat and any skin or bone from the thighs. Place in a shallow bowl or in a gallon sized Ziploc bag. Pour the marinade in. Use the teriyaki blend or create one of your own using the soy sauce, oil, ginger and garlic. Marinade for at least 1-2 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight.
- **Pro-tip – Sometimes I freeze the chicken at this point, in the marinade. When I am ready to make it, I thaw the chicken in the fridge for a day or two. It marinates as it thaws.
- While the chicken is marinating, prep the pickled veggies. Peel and cut up the jicama. Peel with a peeler or paring knife. Slice into large round pieces about a ¼ inch wide, then slice into matchsticks. Place the Jicama straws into a dish and the carrots in another.
- In a small to medium sized saucepan, measure the pickling solution ingredients. The water, both vinegars, sugar and salt. Let it come to a simmer and make sure the sugar and salt have dissolved. Pour half of the solution over the jicama and the other half over the carrots. Cover each and chill them in the refrigerator.
- Grill the thighs at 450° for 5-6 minutes on each side or broil in the oven at 500° with the oven rack at the first or second level from the top. Leave the oven cracked open as you broil. Broil 6-7 minutes on each side, watching closely.
- Slice the grilled chicken into thin slices. Set aside.
- Measure all the chili lime sauce ingredients into a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk together. Set aside. Stir before serving, as it does tend to settle.
- Cook the rice noodles according to the package. Rinse with cold water, let it in a little cold water till service to keep them from sticking.
- Wash and thinly slice Romain lettuce. I like to mix in roughly chopped leafy green mix lettuce in.
- Partially peel an English cucumber by peeling down a strip, then skip over a ¼ inch before peeling down another strip. Slice into matchsticks like the Jicama by slicing into round coins, then stack a few rounds at a time, then cut down in rows to make little sticks.
- Clean and remove dead skin on a bunch of green onions. Trim off ends. Thinly slice.
Build a Bowl
- Start with about 1 cup of lettuce. Then add ½ – 1 cup of rice noodles.
- Next add on about ¾ -1 cup of the sliced chicken. Now add the veggies! Pickled jicama and carrots, cucumber and green onions.
- Drizzle the chili lime dressing over the top, to taste. I do about a ½ cup for the size of bowl that I use.