This salad is unassuming with big ‘wow’ factor. It’s one you could 100% use as the base to throw in leftover turkey after Christmas – be amazing, so make sure you save this recipe and come back to it to brighten up your summer salad days. It’s a bit of a rift on an Ottolenghi one I made years ago. Lots of wonderful flavours from the dressing and herbs and I think he used different types of rice for his grain. I’ve used what I wanted to get through to clean out the pantry at this point so there is buckwheat and Nordic Oats – I’d recommend buckwheat and quinoa as a nice GF combo though if you’re not going traditional with the rice option. Or again, use up what you have in the pantry and just match the quantities like I have.
EPIC DELICIOUS GRAINY CHICKEN SALAD
Serves 4-5 as a main
2 cups cooked shredded chicken breast (or 2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded)
100g quinoa grain (I’ve used the nordic oats here)
100g buckwheat grain
2 brown onions
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
60g fresh coriander, leaves and stalks, stalks finely chopped
50g fresh mint leaves, roughly torn
Dressing: (You’ll want to make a big batch of this as it’s delicious, I’ve bumped up the quantity slightly below for a bit of extra to cover you)
60ml lemon juice
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp fish sauce
100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp honey
pinch of chilli flakes or fresh chilli, if desired
Cook quinoa and buckwheat in separate pots according to cooking instructions then allow to cool. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl or jar and set aside. Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl with the cooled quinoa and buckwheat. Toss, season with salt and pepper, then drizzle dressing to taste and toss again. Don’t hold back on the dressing, you’re after some punch from it and for it to soak into the grains. Serve as is.
