CEiMB: Curried Chicken Salad

I think one of the best things about being in these food clubs is that it pushes me to make things that I would honestly never make on my own. This is a prime example of that, but I'm so glad I did! Curry and I aren't necessarily on bad terms, we just don't exactly see eye to eye. Every once and a while Curry and I will get together and have a decent enough interaction, but then it will be a long time before we get together again, making our next encounter fairly awkward. Luckily, we were both in a good mood yesterday and had an absolutely wonderful time.

I loved this salad! It made for such a perfect lunch and I can't wait to have it again. I made a few minor adjustments to the recipe. Rather than poaching my chicken in broth, I just roasted an entire chicken and chopped the breast meat. It came out so juicy and full of flavor. I also used a red curry paste rather then curry powder, since it's what I had. It had a slight spice and heat to it, but nothing overwhelming. The cilantro brightened the whole dish, the red grapes added a delicious sweetness with every bite, and the almonds brought in great crunch. I also squeezed lime juice over the whole thing for a bit of tang. I'm definitely a lot more sold on Curry, hopefully we'll be hanging out a lot more from now on.

Thanks to Sarah's Kitchen Adventures for hosting!

Curried Chicken Salad
Original Recipe by Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves, no more than 3/4-inch thick
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 cup halved red grapes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 ounces mixed greens (about 5 cups lightly packed))
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

Bring the broth and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add chicken to broth and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. Turn the heat off and let chicken stand in the cooking liquid, covered, until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the broth and cool completely in the refrigerator. Cut into 1/4-inch dice. Toast the almonds in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant and beginning to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, mayonnaise, and curry powder. Fold in the chicken, grapes and cilantro and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with the oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange the greens on 4 individual plates, top with a scoop of the chicken salad and sprinkle with the almonds.

Serves 4: (serving size: 1 cup chicken salad and 1 1/4 cups greens)

Per Serving: Calories 325; Total Fat 14 g; (Sat Fat 2 g, Mono Fat 6 g, Poly Fat 5 g) ; Protein 37 g; Carb 13 g; Fiber 2 g; Cholesterol 85 mg; Sodium 175 mg

Points per Serving: 7