Curry Chicken Salad

We had some chicken that had been sitting in our freezer, unopened, since...probably November. We just don't typically freeze meat, and if we do, we are never inclined to use it. When Derek was about to throw this poor chicken away, I suggested cooking it and if it tasted OK then we could use it for a chicken salad. That is precisely what we did (and yes, the meat was still good).

Curry Chicken Salad

2 cooked chicken breasts (we used the bone-in with skin)

We poached the chicken a day or two prior to this dinner since we knew we were going to do something with it. For the poaching liquid we used water that was flavored with a variety of spices including juniper berry, bay leaves, carrots, celery, onion....sort of like making a chicken broth. The chicken was nice and tender and lightly flavored.

For the salad we threw together the following (measurements are approximate):

Dressing

• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (Fage, of course)
• 2 T. mayonnaise
• 1 T. curry powder (perhaps add another 1/2 tsp. or so)
• 2 t. lime juice
• 2 t. honey
• 1/2 tsp. ginger juice (ground ginger could work too)
• salt and pepper

Salad

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces (cubes)
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup red grapes, cut in half
• lettuce, washed and torn
• pumpkin seeds for garnish

These two chicken breasts made enough of a salad for two dinners and two lunches. It was a lot of meat!! I wanted more grapes and nuts and celery to offset the meat which got a little old after a while. Still, it was very tasty. Poaching is such a healthy way to cook the meat as it didn't touch an ounce of oil in the process. It also made it really juice and tender so that part was a bonus. While poaching isn't our normal method of cooking meat, it seemed to be a common theme amongst chicken salad recipes so we went with it and it worked out!

This is another dish that you could really throw in quite a variety of ingredients. I saw some recipes that suggested mango or pineapple, some with mango chutney (I think that would be great drizzled on top - it would have to be heated first to thin out the jelly-like product). Coconut would also be great on top.

What I like the most about this recipe is that it didn't feel sinful at all - actually quite the contrary. Using yogurt instead of mayo is key. The dish still maintained its creamy characteristics without the fattiness of the mayo. It wasn't missed.