Spicy Chicken Salad

 

As promised, in order to promote healthy eating I will post recipes of soup and salad throughout this week to encourage my readers for incorporating a healthy eating habit into their life style. Though I must say our generation is quite health and figure conscious compared to our earlier generation when having a potbelly was regarded as a sign of wealth and prosperity, but there are people still who scowl at the name of salad. For them salad is nothing but a subsistence for the sickly and anorexics. They in their desire for taste and spiciness become forgetful or intentionally ignorant of the fact that at times it's important to give your tummy a break from daily gastronomic venture and eat something healthy to provide apt nutrition to your body.

If one spends half of his life on oily deep fried unhealthy stuff, the later half he might spend eating only boiled food, provided he lives that long. So as my physician told me once that 'moderation is very important'. You may eat whatever you feel like but staying within limit and keeping salad and soup included in your regular food plan.

 

Anyway, enough harangue on eating healthy, let’s get onto the recipe now.

Ingredients:                                                   Preparation time: 20 minutes ü  2 chicken breasts (cut into 1 inch long cubes) ü  Black pepper, taste wise ü  1 tbsp lemon juice ü  Salt to taste ü  2 cucumbers (peeled and sliced) ü  2 tomatoes (chopped) ü  1 capsicum or green bell pepper (chopped) ü  1/2 cup of sprouts ü  2 lettuce leaves (blanched and chopped) ü  2 tbsp chopped walnuts ü  1/2 cup of chopped coriander leaves or cilantro ü  1 tsp white oil ü  Croutons (optional) for garnishing For dressing: ü  1/2 cup of yogurt, beaten ü  1 tsp roasted cumin powder ü  1/2 tsp paprika ü  Salt to taste ü  1 tsp sugar ü  2 tbsp orange juice Method: 1) Rub chicken with salt, lemon juice and black pepper. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a non-stick grill pan and fry the chicken on medium low heat until nicely golden brown in color and chicken is cooked from inside. 2) For the dressing, toss together all the ingredients as mentioned and keep aside. 3) In a large mixing bowl, put together grilled chicken, cucumber, tomato, capsicum, lettuce leaves, sprouts, coriander leaves and walnuts. Pour the dressing on top and mix in. 4) Serve garnished with croutons.