Warm Spicy Chicken Salad

JustJanS's Note:

I make lots of variations on this. Sometimes I add tomatoes or sun-dried tomatoes,croutons, cucumber, red onions, pine nuts, olives-whatever is on hand and needs using. Prep time includes 30 minutes marinating.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 13 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 13 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 skinless chicken pieces (about 150g each)
• 1 tablespoon sambal oelek or 1 fresh chili, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon grated gresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 -3 tablespoons cajun seasoning
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 8 cm lengths (250g)
• 100 g mixed salad greens
• 2 red capsicums, sliced (bell peppers)
• 50 g beans, shoots
• 100 g snow peas, topped and tailed
• 1/4 cup cashews, toasted
• 1/4 cup natural yoghurt

DRESSING

• 3 tablespoons oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

Directions:

1. Combine chicken, sambal oelek, garlic, ginger and lemon juice in a bowl and marinate for 30 minutes-marinating longer will make the salad tastier and spicier.
2. Remove the chicken from the marinade and coat in the Cajun seasoning.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the chicken for about 5 minutes, or until just cooked through.
4. Remove the chicken from the pan, set aside and keep warm.
5. Boil, or steam the asparagus until tender.
6. Combine all remaining salad ingredients including asparagus in a bowl, toss with the dressing and divide among 4 plates.
7. Slice chicken and divide amongst the 4 plates.
8. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt on each.
9. DRESSING: Combine all dressing ingredients in a screw-top jar.
10. Shake until well mixed.

Reviews

[Tisme]

We loved this!!!!
The flavours were fantastic, and as you say Jan this recipe lends itself to using different vegetables. I followed as written .... well I did forget to serve it topped with yoghurt (I forgot that at the end as I was so excited to serve it) but I did add cucumber and mushroom that I had on hand, and they went so very with everything else in the recipe.
This will be a great recipe for the coming summer months for this family.......Thanks Jan.

[Latchy]

What a great burst of flavours and textures in this recipe. I marinated the chicken for 3 hours and I grilled my capsicum and peeled it to get a lovely sweet flavour. I decided not to use asparagus & used lebanese cucumber instead. The bean sprouts gave a great crunch & freshness to the salad and the yoghurt did the right thing for the heat & spiceyness of the chicken. The thing I liked about this recipe that even with strong flavours not one flavour overpowered everything else. Had this for Melbourne Cup lunch & guests said it went well with the Champers.