This is an old catering standby from another life. It was a super useful recipe as people loved it and it could be used as both a salad and to fill sandwiches (especially clubs) and wraps. I was reminded of it on the weekend when we ‘last minute’ planned a family picnic and I had a whole chicken that needed to be used. I poached the chicken the afternoon before, allowing it to cool in the poaching liquid for the ultimate succulence, and threw the ‘salad’ together in the morning. I took the salad along in a large glass container (Lock & Lock of course!) together with a bag of greens and some wraps and bread rolls (and some extra mango chutney to dollop).

INGREDIENTS

1 chicken, poached (see our How to Poach a Chicken recipe)

Dressing:
2/3cup Greek yoghurt
1/3cup good mayonnaise (homemade, or I used Best Foods)
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/3 cup mango chutney (the sweet kind, not mango pickle)
2 tbsp good curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Salad:
2 stalks celery, finely diced
½ medium telegraph cucumber, seeded and diced
70gms slivered almonds, toasted until lightly browned, a few reserved for garnish
1 bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped, a little reserved for garnish

METHOD

Strip the meat from your chicken and set aside.

To make the dressing: dry roast the curry powder in a small non-stick skillet – watch it carefully and don’t allow it to burn. Add this to the rest of the dressing ingredients. Stir to combine thoroughly.

In a large bowl combine the dressing, the chicken meat, celery, cucumber, almonds and coriander and mix until the dressing is evenly distributed. Top with reserved almonds and coriander, a good grind of black pepper and a further squeeze or two of lime.