LIGHT STYLE : And Now for an Easy Chicken Salad

You don’t have to do much to make salads conform to light-style eating. But we’ve taken steps to trim calories, fats and cholesterol even further, and have cut down on salt.

Here are some tricks we employ in Chinese Chicken Salad to help reduce fat content dramatically:

* Reduce oil called for in dressing by half.

* Remove all poultry skin.

* Poach the chicken.

CHINESE CHICKEN SALAD

3 whole chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds boned weight), skinned, boned and split

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock

1 head iceberg lettuce, shredded

4 green onions, sliced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 (4-ounce) can water chestnuts, thinly sliced

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

3 radishes, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Rice Vinegar Dressing

Place chicken breasts in skillet with stock, cover and cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from stock and let cool. Dice chicken meat and combine with lettuce, green onions, cilantro, water chestnuts, celery, radishes and sesame seeds.

Drizzle with Rice Vinegar Dressing and toss to mix well. Makes 6 servings.

Note: To toast sesame seeds, place in dry pan over medium heat and heat, stirring, until golden.

Each serving with dressing contains about:

227 calories; 81 mg sodium; 60 mg cholesterol; 8 g fat; 6 g carbohydrate; 28 g protein; 1 g fiber; 33% calories from fat.

Exchanges: 3 meat; 1 vegetable.

Rice Vinegar Dressing

2 tablespoons corn or olive oil

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon water

Pepper to taste

Combine oil, vinegar, water, and pepper in small jar and shake until well blended. Makes 1/2 cup.

Each 1 tablespoon serving contains about:

30 calories; 0 sodium; 0 cholesterol; 3 g fat; tr carbohydrate; 0 protein; 0 fiber; 90% calories from fat.

Exchanges: 1 fat.

This column is based on the newly revised “Light Style: The Low Fat, Low Cholesterol, Low Salt Way to Good Food and Good Health” by Dosti and Kidushim-Allen, a registered dietitian (HarperSanFrancisco: $14.95).