Avocado Chicken Mango Salad With Hazelnut Honey Dressing

bluemoon downunder's Note:

The contrasting colours in this salad are appealing to the eye and the subtle combination of flavours is divine. This is a great brunch or lunch dish, and in hot weather a dinner dish that I've found always proves to be popular. It caters so well for those NOT into hot and spicy dishes. Adapted from a recipe on a 'Pan or Wok' recipe card from International Masters.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 5 chicken breast fillets, skins removed
• 750 ml chicken stock
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 ripe mango
• 1 ripe avocado
• 100 g baby spinach leaves

Hazelnut Honey Dressing

• 100 g toasted hazelnuts
• 2 1/2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 2 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 lime, finely grated rind and juice
• 2 1/2 tablespoons clear honey
• 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, sodium reduced

Directions:

1. Place the chicken breasts in a pan, add the stock and lime juice, bring to the boil, then simmer for 20-25, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
2. Remove the chicken from the pan with a slotted spoon, set aside in a bowl and allow to cool.
3. Cut the chicken into thin strips.
4. Halve the avocado, remove the stone, peel the flesh and slice finely; halve the mango, remove the stone, peel the flesh and slice finely.
5. In the serving bowl, toss the avocado, mango, chicken and baby spinach leaves.
6. Hazelnut Honey Dressing: Roughly chop the nuts, whisk the oils, lime rind and juice, honey and soy sauce in a jug, then stir in the nuts.
7. Serving: Pour the Hazelnut Honey Dressing over the avocado, mango, chicken and spinach mixture, and toss lightly until all the salad ingredients are well coated and serve with warm crusty rolls.
8. Variation: For extra flavour, add some stir-fried, peeled tiger prawns to the salad mixture just before adding the Hazelnut Honey Dressing.
9. Chef's Notes: If you are unable to find toasted nuts, dry-fry the raw nuts in a heavy-based pan for 5 minutes over a low heat, shaking regularly. If you are adding the tiger prawns, depending on how many you add, you may want to make a slightly larger quantity of the dressing.
10. Hazelnut Fact: Hazelnuts are also known as filberts. According to tradition, the nuts are ripe for picking on 22 August, the feast day of Saint Philibert. I'm not sure which hemisphere this refers to. The original source of this recipe - and this 'fact' - is Australian, but I don't believe that there are any Australian Saint Philiberts! He's most probably a European saint.

Reviews

[sugarpea]

A 10 star yum.What a great selection of colors, flavors and textures. It was the perfect dinner salad for a hot, muggy evening. Dh is allergic to hazelnuts so I subbed cashews and I grilled the chicken breasts. The only change I will make next time is to halve the sesame oil. It was a bit overpowering for my taste - just a personal preference. Terrific recipe, bluemoom downunder.