Summer time with summer food: Chicken and green bean sheets with sesame sause

It's getting hot in Minnesota. Around 70s to 80s. Since when I've gotten used to the cold so much that 70s would be too hot for me? I used to live in the sunshine California with 80s to 90s with no surprise. Sigh** country road~take me home~~ 

cough*cough* enough.

Summer time means summer food. You can't be eating hot and spicy kimchi stew during summer time, can you? Unless you want to sweat your hair out or burn your tongue off while enjoying the hot and humid summer breeze.... hahaha... Or, if you are so luxurious, maybe you can turn the AC on and enjoy your kimchi stew, but watch out for the environmentalists and your energy bills.

My Shanghaiese family will always like this dish: Shredded chicken and green bean starch sheets with sesame sauce. What's green bean starch sheets??

Basically an extract from green beans: skinned, grounded and dried into this transparent flat sheet of beans. It's soft and slippery when soak in hot water. A well-known starch/noodles in Asian cooking, especially Thai and well, Shanghaiese (?)

The soaking time really varies. I still haven't managed to perfect the texture of the starch I wish to have. I want it to be a little bit softer and chewier, but I don't know if the "chewiness" actually comes from the soaking or from the nature of the starch?! Anyhow, soak in boiling water for at least 1 hour should give you a good start. (Actually, when I was reading the direction on the package, I got confused with this same phrase "Soak in boiling water", so you boil the water, off the heat and soak right? Or do they actually mean, boil it in water? Anyway, I think what I did was right... soaking for 1 hour)

Shredded Chicken and Green Bean Starch with Sesame Sauce

Green bean sheets x 2 rounds

Chicken breat + thighs x 1 each

Cucumber x 1/2

Salt x 2 tsp

Sesame sauce:

Sesame paste x 1 tbsp

Soy sauce x 2 tsp

Black vinegar x 1 tsp

Sugar x 2 tsp

Sesame oil x 2 tsp

Sesame seeds x some 

Prepare the green bean sheets: Boil the water, just enough to cover the sheets with an inch margin. Soak the green bean sheets in the hot water for 1 hour. Set aside and cool.

Cook the chicken: boil the chicken meat and add in sea salt crystals to flavor. (Sea salt crystals... just my favorite and my fancy way of cooking... Morton salt will do just fine...) Once cooked, shred the chicken meat when cooled and set aside. (watch out for your fingers! they are hot hot hot chicks!!..... nvm) Julie the cucumbers and set aside.

Mix the sesame sauce: Scope out the paste, add just 1-2 tsp of water so to dissolve it a little and get the mixing started. Add in the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and sesame oil. That should give you enough liquid to dissolve the paste and mix. If it's still too thick, add in teaspoons of water at a time. It shouldn't be too liquidy, but with the consistency of.... mmmm.... liquid soap (????) cough*

Finally, toast the sesame seeds. Cut or slice the starch to bit pieces, top it with the julied cucumbers and shredded chicken. Pour the sesame sauce over it, and sprinkle the seeds over.

Ta-da!

Enjoy. Summer time.