Sweet and Spicy Chicken Salad
Let’s not beat around the bush here, diet food is not always fun. And no matter how many recipe sites I go to or posts I surf through, I don’t usually find a recipe that brings a smile to my lips the way French Fries does! Why does diet food always need to be bland and uninspiring?
When I started off cooking for my diabetic husband knocking processed foods, carbs, fats and sugars was a priority. Salads became a must have. Then came the ordeal of making greens interesting and innovative. I mean how many kinds of salads can you make?
Today, I can easily feed you a new salad everyday for a whole year and I promise you none of those recipes are boring. The crux of any salad is to balance the sweet with the spicy and the sour, throw in a good amount of herbs for flavour and freshness, add bite and earthy flavours and finally add a lot of proteins! Now when I say protein I don’t mean meats and egg. Did you know broccoli is loaded with proteins? And the best way to enjoy it, is by simply stir-frying small florets in smoking sesame oil with garlic and a little bit of soya sauce, salt and freshly ground pepper. It’s perfect for a mid-day snack.
This salad is one of my favourites, it goes perfectly well with a roasted tomato and garlic soup or even something rustic like a Thai curry with rice. It calls for the use Thai Sweet Chilli sauce, and since most of the bottled versions are loaded with sugar, I prefer to make my own. The rest of the salad is just a simple assembly.
Sweet and Spicy Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 bunch rocket leaves
- 1 iceberg lettuce
- 1 bunch loose leaf lettuce
- 10-12 basil leaves, torn by hand
- 4-5 kaffir leaves
- 1/2 each red, yellow, orange and green capsicums, sliced thin
- 1 onion, sliced thin
- 15-20 cherry tomatoes, split into two
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 chicken breast
- 2 tablespoons sweet chilli garlic sauce
- 1 tablespoon soya sauce
- Olive oil
- 1/4 cup peanuts, roasted and roughly grounded
Method
- Marinate the chicken in the sweet chilli garlic sauce and soya sauce for 2-3 hours.
- Grill the chicken for about 20 minutes, till cooked to the centre. Slice it when cooled.
- In a pan, tear all the washed greens except basil and kaffir leaves, add the chopped onions and capsicum. Season them with salt, pepper and half the lemon juice.
- To Assemble: Place the greens in a flat dish, top with chopped tomatoes. Place the grilled chicken on top. Garnish with the peanuts, kaffir leaves and basil.