Curry Chicken Salad

A few days ago my boyfriend made an important declaration, “chicken salad is my favorite food, I love chicken salad sandwiches with lettuce tomato and onion, and if I’m feeling naughty.. a slice of provelone.” I’ve never made chicken salad, not being a big fan of mayo I myself am not a huge chicken salad fan. The one caveat to that statement would be curried or curry chicken salad.   I had a taste of curry chicken salad over the summer while planning my father’s surprise party and found it delicious. Chicken salad has been a staple lunch go-to for my mother as long as I can remember, but always the same plain jane chicken salad. I wanted to bring some color to this otherwise mundane luncheon food and this past week’s snow storm finally gave me the opportunity.

I was staying in Stamford, CT and woke up Monday morning to this (see pic below) around 20 inches of snow. Metro-North had canceled train service. I decided to walk to the gym and try to secure myself a three day pass to get some cardio in but alas, they were snowed in as well. I went to my backup plan of spending the day cooking delicious food.

On the ingredient list was a mango and I realized looking at the pile of green fruit, that I had no idea how to pick out a ripened one, nevertheless even cut one. Looking back on this now I should have looked for pre-cut mango slices. Check this cartoon out for the proper way to cut a mango, i assumed it was like an avocado and I ended up really making a mess but still forging enough pieces for the salad.

The curry dressing was super easy but major warning to all you cooks out there, beware of the white mixing bowl. The curry dyed the bowl yellow and it was VERY hard to get that color out. Next time I’m using a darker bowl. I overestimated the amount of chicken salad this recipe made and we ended up having to eat it all week. My boyfriend even gave away sandwiches at work to people to get rid of it. We brought it with us in the car to DC, and Baltimore feeding friends sandwiches in each city. It was delicious but the recipe made ALOT. Next time I would cut it in half or thirds.

Making the Dressing

Curried Chicken Salad

adapted from Gourmet June 2002

• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 lb skinless boneless chicken breast
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt I used 1 small container Fage Greek yogurt
• 5 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 medium red onion, chopped (1 cup)
• 1 firm-ripe mango (3/4 pound), peeled, pitted, and chopped
• 1 cup red seedless grapes (5 ounces), halved
• 1/2 cup salted roasted cashews, coarsely chopped I would up this to 1 cup next time. It gave it a really nice crunch!