PERSIAN CHICKEN SALAD

Once again I turn to my exotic Feast magazine for cooking inspiration. This time, the inspiration was Persian cuisine or Iranian fare, due to the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7^th century. Trademarks of modern day Iranian cuisine include contrasting sweetness with sourness, the use of dried hers, fruits, nuts and flowers and of course rice. The Iranian’s are known for their elaborate methods of preparing rice and for the interesting ingredients they serve it with. My Persian chicken salad is a lot simpler to cook than the recipe Feast published; they use a whole chicken and have to face the arduous task of removing the skin and bones. After a long day, I just couldn’t be bothered, hence the chicken breast fillets (which are healthier by the way). To achieve the sweet and sour taste, you could use eggs, peas, olives, radishes and pickles in your salad. To be completely honest, I bought a jar of pickles especially for the making of this dish but could not muster up the arm strength to open it! I suppose we do need men for one or two things….

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup wild rice
• 1/2 cup doongara or basmati rice
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 500g chicken breast fillet, cut into even 4cm pieces
• 1 large tomato, thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, thinly sliced
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Dressing

• 1/8 cup 99% fat free mayonnaise
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard 

COOKING 

1. Bring wild rice and vegetable stock to the boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or until no liquid remains and rice is tender. Remove from heat. 

2. Meanwhile, bring white rice and 1 cup water to the boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until no liquid remains and rice is tender. Remove from heat. 

3. Place chicken pieces, cumin, onion, garlic, salt and 1.5 litres of water in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, cooking for 5 minutes or until chicken is tender. Remove from heat and drain, reserving 60ml of the chicken broth. 

4. Meanwhile, whisk all the dressing ingredients together, including the 60ml reserved liquid, in a small bowl. 

5. Arrange the cooked chicken, rice, tomato, celery and carrot in a large serving bowl or plate. Drizzle the dressing over the top and serve either warm or cold. 

Serves / 4

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 35 minutes (if you are able to cook the two varieties of rice simultaneously, if not , 50 - 55 minutes)

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