Spiced chicken and rice salad
This is a great salad for a summer lunch and a brilliant dish for a packed lunch. Keep cool until you are ready to eat.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 yellow or orange pepper, deseeded and cut into roughly 2cm chunks
- 100 g broccoli, cut into small florets and halved
- 100 g easy-cook wholegrain or brown rice (such as Uncle Ben’s)
- 2 tsp medium curry powder
- 100 g cooked and cooled skinless chicken meat
- 100 g red seedless grapes, halved
- ½ cucumber, about 100g, cut into small chunks
- 25 g toasted flaked almonds
- bunch fresh coriander, leaves roughly chopped
- For the dressing:
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp medium curry powder
- 1 garlic clove peeled and crushed
- sea salt and black pepper
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and gently fry the pepper and broccoli for 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are softened but still retain some ‘bite’.
- Remove from the heat and spread onto a plate, to cool.
- Half-fill a pan with water and bring to the boil. Stir in the rice and the curry powder. Return to the boil and cook for 10–15 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Drain in a sieve and rinse under running water until cold. Drain well and transfer to a large bowl.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to the rice. Stir in the cooled vegetables, grapes, cucumber, almonds and coriander.
- Make the dressing by whisking the lime juice, sugar, curry powder and garlic together with a little salt and lots of ground black pepper. Gradually whisk in the olive oil. Pour over the salad and toss well together. Keep chilled until ready to serve.
