Sesame Mayonnaise Chicken salad 鳥胸肉のゴママヨネーズ和え

On a recent warm, spring-like weekend, we barbecued a whole chicken. From the leftovers, I made chicken noodle soup (using some skin and dark meat). I also made chicken salad (from the breast meat). I was going to make chicken gomaae 鶏肉の胡麻和え but at the last moment, I realized I was out of Japanese white sesame paste or "nerigoma"  練り胡麻. Instead, I made some sesame mayonnaise and used that to dressed the chicken.



Chicken: I used the breast meat of a barbecued chicken. I teased the meat, using my hands, along the grain to make thin strands.

Dressing: Goma-Mayonnaise is a rather common Japanese -style dressing. I dried roasted white sesame seeds (1 tbs) in a dry frying pan constantly moving them around until they became fragrant. I tipped off the roasted sesame into a Japanese "suribachi" すり鉢 mortar and ground it until the oil came out but it was not pasty.

I mixed the ground sesame into mayonnaise and mixed. I added light colored soy sauce to taste and just a splash of lemon juice (I used Yuzu juice from the bottle, which added a more assertive citrus flavor). I dressed the chicken meat with the dressing. The chicken absorbed the moisture and the dressing got a bit thick so I added a very small amount of water (optional) and mixed.

I served it with a garnish of watercress and roasted white sesame seeds. Actually, the flavor profile is very similar to the more traditional "goma-ae" with sesame paste. Perfect small "otoshi" dish.