My version of Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Bowl

Well, last Thursday tattoo man and I (I figure if Pioneer Woman has Marlboro Man.....I'm gonna have tattoo man, since that is what my man does) ;) we visited a little local Vietnamese restaurant that we like to go to. We always order the same thing, the chicken vermicelli noodle bowl. It's absolutely fresh, light, filling and delicious. Now every time we've gone there...the 'chef' and I do use that term loosely, in me is saying, I can do this!!!

So I started planning about 3 days ago. I did some internet research. Read about 25 different recipes. Checked out some Vietnamese restaurant menus. Then made my grocery list, yesterday, went shopping today and got to work. Now just so you know, that most of these bowls are made with rice vermicelli noodles, but to lower the carb value and increase the healthiness I used whole wheat spaghetti noodles. Both my sons said it was great. My youngest, who is not super fond of the restaurants food, said mine was better. My oldest had 2 bowls, he said it was GREAT!! And of course tattoo man said he enjoyed it!!

I'm gonna do my best to talk you through what I did. This recipe is by no means authentic, it was just my version of what I thought that I ate. =) I have absolutely know idea what this lady puts on her chicken or what the spices are. So I just did what I thought was yummy.

5 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1" chunks
2 cups shredded napa cabbage
1 carrot, julienned
1 cucumber, julienned
1 cup cilantro, washed and chopped roughly
2 cups bean sprouts
5 green onions, diced
1 cup salted peanuts, chopped
1 lb cooked rice vermicelli noodles OR I used whole wheat spaghetti noodles (boil while cooking chicken)

Sauce for Chicken
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used natural)
1 T sugar (I used xylitol)
1 tsp asian garlic chili sauce
1 T fish sauce
1 T rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1/4 cup chopped peanuts(from above ingredients)
1 tsp sesame oil

Heat a large saute pan until very hot. Put about 2 T of sesame oil in the pan and toss in chopped chicken and cook until cooked through. Mix all above ingredients well in a bowl except peanuts. Pour over cooked chicken while it is still over the heat. Stir over heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and toss in peanuts. Mix well. Set aside.

Dressing to pour over top

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2 T sugar (I used xylitol)
1/3 cup fish sauce
1 tsp chopped cilantro
2 cloves grated garlic
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 T asian garlic chili sauce
1/3 cup water

Stir all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved.

Assembly

In a large bowl place 1/2 cup shredded cabbage. Then place 1 cup noodles off to one side of the bowl. On the other side of the bowl put 2/3 cup chicken. Then on the noodles place 1/8 cup of each cilantro, bean sprouts, carrots, and cucumber in a row next to each other. Pour 1/4 cup of dressing over the bowl. Then sprinkle 1/8 cup of peanuts over the whole bowl.